
CIass.J}358 
Book v i 
CopigM . 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 







PROGRESS OF 1 HE CENTURY. 



j(i yu <f&>[ 



Story of One Hundred Years 

A MATCHLESS RECORD OF THE GREATEST 
CENTURY OF HISTORIC TIME. 

A Comprehensive Review of the Political and Military Events, 

the Social, Intellectual and Material Progress, and 

the General State of Mankind in All Lands. 






Embodying; Detailed and Accurate Accounts of all Things of Importance 
and Interest, from J 80 1 to 1900, Inclusive. 




Profusely Illustrated from Historic Paintings and Engravings and from 
Special Drawings made expressly for this work. 



By DANIEL B. SHEPP, 



Aethor of "Shepp's Photographs of the ■World." "Shepp's World's Fair Photographed."* 
"Shepp'» Giant Library," "Shepp's New York City Illustrated,** etc— etc 



Published by 

Globe Bible Publishing Company* 

723 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 









LIBRARY of CONGRESS! 
Two Copies Received 

NOV 28 1904 

Copyriem entry 

CUSS // XXc, Noi 
COPY B. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 190c, 

By D. B. SHEPP, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



All rights reserved. 




PREFACE. 

ROM 1 80 1 to 1900. It is a small part of the history of the 
world. It is the merest fraction, insignificant in extent, of 
the whole story of Time. Yet it surpasses in human inter- 
est all that had gone before. It has been well said that the 
Nineteenth Century is properly to be compared not with 
any other century but with all other centuries put together. And this 
estimate does not seem extravagant when we consider the marvelous 
progress which has been made by man in these one hundred years. 

In all the thrilling interest of war and conquest, of heroic achieve- 
ment, of daring adventure, the Nineteenth Century is more than the peer 
of any other. In scientific progress it easily outstrips all its eighteen 
predecessors, and the forty more that preceded them. In literature, 
music, art, it proves that the former times were not better than the later. 
And in social advancement, free institutions, elevation of the masses of 
the people, and general betterment of the condition of humanity, it so 
far outranks all other centuries as to seem almost an era in a new world. 
To tell the story of such an epoch is a task that may well fascinate 
the fancy and engage the highest endeavors of the historian. In many 
respects the story can never be fully told, for it is written only upon the 
hearts and souls of the human race. To tell all that could be told of the 
Hundred Years, in all its fullness, would require a whole library, and 
would need a lifetime to read. The present undertaking aims at no such 
thing as that. It aims at the production of a practical book, which in cost 
is within the reach of all, and in compass is within the power of all to 
read, and yet which in scope and detail covers the entire range of the 
century and includes every fact of real and lasting import. 

In performing this task the historian must tell the story of his own 
land, in its progress from the estate of a puny handful of half-settled 
States to that of one of the greatest powers on the face of the globe. In 
so doing he must tell of great foreign and domestic wars, of territorial 
expansion, and of such inventive and industrial genius as the world has 
not elsewhere seen. He must tell of the mighty wars of the Old World, 
of the gradual emancipation ol nation after nation from absolutism to 



14 PREFACE. 

constitutional government. He must tell of the opening of the Dark 
Continent, and of the lands of Asia, and the settlement of the islands of 
the sea, and the extension into them of the arts of civilization. The rise 
and fall of empire, the transforming of the map of the world, are mere 
incidents in the progress of the mighty drama. 

For the proper fulfilment of such a task it is necessary to draw upon 
all sources of information, to ransack libraries, documents, statistics, and 
a vast wealth of data wholly inaccessible to the average man ; and to 
glean therefrom the choicest grain of information and place it in practi- 
cal and attractive form before the reader. The resources of pictorial 
art are likewise to be utilized, in the securing of present scenes of inter- 
est and the reproduction of old ones from the great galleries and treasure 
houses of art. The labor involved in such an undertaking is enormous. 
But the satisfaction in achieving it is likewise beyond all estimation. 

The work is done, ended with the closing days of the century which 
it records. It is offered to the reader with an earnest hope that it will be 
found not unworthy of its exalted theme, and that it will assist the multi- 
tudes who may peruse it to form a more adequate estimate of the " clos- 
ing cycle " than would have been possible without it. 




CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

Dawn of the New Century — Washington the National Capital — War with 
Tripoli — Ohio Admitted to the Union — Duel Between Hamilton and Burr 
— The Louisiana Purchase — Re-election of Mr. Jefferson — Trouble with 
England and France — The Embargo — Impressment of Seamen — Chesa- 
peake and Leopard — The First Steamboat — Jefferson's Retirement 33 

CHAPTER II. 

The Napoleonic Wars — Copenhagen — Alexandria — Reconstruction of France — 
War Renewed — England Threatened with Invasion — Emmett's Rebellion — - 
Napoleon Made Emperor — Ulm, Trafalgar and Austerlitz — Changing the 
Map of Europe — Jena and Auerstadt — Friedland — The Peninsular War — 
French Troops in Madrid — Victories of Napoleon 40 

CHAPTER III. 

General Progress of the World — Independence of Hayti — Seizure of Toussaint 
— Bloody Independence — King Henry — Peruvian Revolution — Buenos 
Ayres — Disaster to the British — Storming of Buenos Ayres — Moving for 
Independence — Civil Dissensions — Success of the Revolution — Other 
Countries Revolt — Colombian Independence — Science and Literature — 
American Literature 52 

CHAPTER IV. 

Madison Becomes President of the United States — Trouble with the Indians — 
The War of 1812 — American Disasters — -Victories at Sea — Invasion of 
Canada — Battle of Lake Erie — British Success at Sea — Chippewa and 
Lundy's Lane - — Lake Champlain — Burning of Washington — Talking of 
Peace — Battle of New Orleans — Hartford Convention — The Creek War — 
Close of Mr. Madison's Administration 68 

CHAPTER V. 

Austria Against Napoleon — Napoleon's Divorce and Re-marriage — Wellington 
at Torres Vedras — Turn of the Tide in Spain — Quarrel with Russia — 
Marching to Moscow — Borodino — Destruction of Moscow — Horrors of the 
Retreat — Destruction of the Grand Army — Lutzen and Leipsic — Invasion 
of France — Napoleon's Return from Elba — Waterloo — Restoration of the 

Bourbons — The Second Peace of Paris 79 

15 



1 6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 
The War for Independence in South America -■—Simon Bolivar — Liberator and 
Dictator — La Puerta and San Marco — Republic of Bolivia — Revolution of 
Mexico — Hidalgo — Death of Hidalgo — Calleja — Russia and Turkey — 
Stories of the Years — Scientific Progress 9* 

CHAPTER VII. 
James Monroe Becomes President of the United States — Acquisition of Florida 
— The Monroe Doctrine — Three New States — The Missouri Compromise 
— Treaties and Controversies — Lafayette — The Pension System — Revision 
of the Tariff — Re-election of Mr. Monroe 101 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Treaty of Paris — Reaction in Europe — The Manchester Meeting — The Barbary 
Pirates — Disquiet in France — Rebellion in Spain — Revolution in Portugal 
— Naples and Sicily — Revolution in Piedmont — Congress at Carlsbad — The 
Greek Revolution — Independence Proclaimed — Turkish Atrocities — The 
Greek Constitution — The Destruction of Scio — Marco Bozzaris — Byron at 
Missolonghi — The Egyptian Fleet at Navarino 109 



CHAPTER IX. 
Great Britain and the Indian Empire — The Mahratta War — Obrenovitch, Prince 
of Servia — Revolutions in America — The Triumph of Bolivar — The Repub- 
lic of Colombia — Three Republics Organized — Death of Bolivar — Iturbide 
in Mexico — Treaty of Cordova — Iturbide Emperor — Fall of Iturbide — 
Liberia — "Byron is Dead" — Literature and Science — Trumbull's Paintings 
• — Steam Navigation — Death of Decatur 125 

CHAPTER X. 
John Quincy Adams Becomes President of the United States — Trouble with 
Creek Indians — The Panama Congress — A Notable Anniversary — Political 
Movements — Election of General Jackson 140 

CHAPTER XI. 
Fall of Louis XVIII — The War in Greece — Accession of Czar Nicholas I — 
Change of Russian Policy — Destruction of the Janissaries — Declaring for 
Greek Independence — Battle of Navarino — Russia Makes War on Turkey — 
Doings in Various Lands - 144 

CHAPTER XII. 
Opening of the Erie Canal — Gas Lighting — Railroads — Arctic Exploration — 

Early Strikes — Miscellaneous Events 155 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



17 



Andrew Jackson Becomes President of the United States — Changes in Office — 
Nullification — South Carolina Yields — Georgia and the Cherokees — -Na- 
tional Bank — Removal of the Deposits — Black Hawk War — Seminole War 
— Jackson Re-elected — Foreign Affairs 160 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Catholic Emancipation in England — Wellington Prime Minister — Catholic 
Emancipation Effected — End of the Greek Revolution — Russo-Turkish 
War — Troubles in France — Conquest of Algeria — Reaction in France — 
The Revolution Begins — Flight of the King — Belgian Revolution — ■ Unrest 
in Poland — Outbreak at Warsaw — Russians Routed — The Fall of Poland — 
Reform Law in England — Triumph of Reform — Doings in Various Lands 
— The Carlist War 171 

CHAPTER XV. 

Spanish Attack upon Mexico — Usurpation of Bustamente — Defence of the 
Federal Constitution — Proceedings of Santa Anna — Texas Declared Inde- 
pendent — New Grenada, Venezuela and Ecuador — Personal Incidents — First 
Passenger Railway — Exploring the Niger — Copyright Reform — Obituary 
— Slave Insurrection — Events Abroad — Girard College Founded — Chastis- 
ing Savage Sumatrians — The Cholera Epidemic — The Death Roll — Treaty 
with Russia — Rioting in the United States — Shooting Stars — Necrology — 
Great Fire in New York — Colt's Revolver 189 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Martin Van Buren Becomes President of the United States — The Great Panic — ■ 
Continuance of the War in Florida — Internal Improvements — Difficulties 
in the State of Maine — Incidents of the Administration — Changes of Opin- 
ion Among the People — An Exciting Campaign 203 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Accession of Queen Victoria — Insurrection in Canada — Suppression of the In- 
surgents — Indemnity in Canada — Outbreak in Acadie — Persian Invasion of 
Afghanistan — The Chartist Agitation — Attempt to Burn Sheffield — Marriage 
of Queen Victoria — The Opium War — Hostilities at Macao — Destruction 
of Chinese Fleet — Attempt to Assassinate Queen Victoria — Louis Napoleon 
at Boulogne — Remains of Bonaparte Brought Home — The British Princess- 
Royal — Turkish Affairs — Fall of Acre — Terms of Peace 208 



I S CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Regular Steam Navigation of Atlantic Begun — The "Great Western" — Regular 
Trips Begun — The "Great Britain" — A Fine Ship's Bad Luck — Origin of the 
Cunard Line — Antarctic Explorations — Wilkes's Expedition — "Erebus" 
and "Terror" — New Year's at Mount Sabine — Antarctic Volcanoes — The 
Icy Barrier — The Attempt Abandoned — Origin of Photography — Temper- 
ance Societies — Literary Progress 228 



CHAPTER XIX. 

William Henry Harrison Becomes President of the United States — Death of 
Harrison — John Tyler Becomes President — Ashburton Treaty — Dorr's Re- 
bellion — Saving Oregon — Anti-Slavery Agitation — General Jackson's Fine 
— Annexation of Texas — Treaty with China — The Texas Question — Inci- 
dents of the Administration — End of Tyler's Term 242 

CHAPTER XX. 

Mehemet Ali Ruler of Egypt — Disasters in Afghanistan — Hastening to the Res- 
cue — Fall of Ghuznee — Capture of Cabul — Release of Captives — Conquest 
of Scinde — The Bogue Forts — Fall of Canton— Capture of Amoy — Capture 
of Shanghai — Treaty Signed at Nankin — Annexation of Natal — O'Con- 
nell's Agitation — British Interests — Two Revolutions 248 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Fremont Explores the Rocky Mountains — Newspapers — Telegraphy — Wheat- 
stone's System — Greenough's Washington — -Labor Troubles — Francia, the 
Dictator — Autocracy Extraordinary 263 

CHAPTER XXII. 

James K. Polk Becomes President of the United States — The Mexican War — 
General Taylor at the Front — Palo Alto — Monterey — President Santa 
Anna — Taylor Resumes Operations — Buena Vista — Scott at Vera Cruz — 
Cerro Gordo — Two Bloody Battles — Suing for Peace — Capture of the City 
of Mexico — Conquest of New Mexico — Fremont's Conquest of California — 
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo — The Wilmot Proviso — Discovery of Gold 
■ — Close of the Administration — The Free Soil Party 275 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

First Sikh War — Great Battle of Ferozeshah — The Second Sikh War — The Irish 
Famine — Abolition of the Corn Laws — Break-up of the Tory Party — Emi- 



CONTENTS. 



19 



gration from Ireland — Smith O'Brien's Insurrection — End of Chartism — 
The Spanish Marriages — Discontent in France — Beginning the Revolution 
—The King's Surrender — The Republic Proclaimed — Rise of the Mob — 
Organizing the Republic — Louis Napoleon President of France — Affairs in 
Germany — The Revolutionary Era — Concessions in Prussia — The Op- 
pression of Italy — Awakening of the Italians — ■ Throwing off the Austrian 
Yoke — The Suppression of Lombardy — The Pope Flees from Rome — Revo- ' 
lution in Austria-Hungary — War Threatened in Vienna — War with Hun- 
gary — "King Bomba" — Reaction in Prussia 286 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Sir John Franklin Sails to Seek the Northwest Passage — Humboldt's "Kosmos" 
■ — Necrology — The Planet Neptune — The Sewing Machine — Anaesthetics 
— Personal „ 316 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Za/chary Taylor Becomes President of the United States — The Free Soil Party — 
The Slavery Question — Clay's Compromise — A Famous Oration — Foote's 
Resolution — Lopez in Cuba — Clayton-Bulwer Treaty — Death of Taylor — 
Accession of Fillmore — The Lopez Expedition — Incidents of the Adminis- 
tration — Election of Pierce 320 

CHAPTER XXVI 

The Frankfort Parliament — Organizing a German League — An Error of Tactics 
— A Christmas Gift to Germany — Framing a Constitution — A King De- 
clines to be Emperor — A Conflict with the Kings — Revolutionary Move- 
ments — The First "Dreibund" — Final Failure of the Congress — Schleswig- 
Holstein — Kossuth's Campaign — Russian Intervention — Another Italian 
War — Italian Republic Crushed — The Taiping Rebellion — Indian Affairs — 
Death of Lopez in Cuba — Imperial Ambitions — The Coup d'Etat — Resto- 
ration of the Empire — Rebuilding Paris 331 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Barth's Explorations in Africa — Necrology — London World's Fair — Gold in 
Australia — Helmholtz and the Ophthalmoscope — Caloric Engines — Per- 
sonal — Kossuth and His Visit — Reception in New York — Death of Mr. Clay 
■ — His Career at Washington — Death of Mr. Webster — His Early Career 
— In Public Life — The Great Expounder of the Constitution — Close of His 
Career — Submarine Boats — Submarine Telegraphy — The Brothers Brett — 
The First Cable — Triumph at Last — Extension of the System 350 



20 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Franklin Pierce Becomes President of the United States — Walker in Nicaragua 
—Anti-Slavery Power in Congress — Ostend Manifesto — Reciprocity with 
Canada — Squatter Sovereignty — Protests Against Extension of Slavery — 
The War in Kansas — Organizing the Kansas Government — Anti-Slavery 
Agitation — "Under-Ground Railroad" — The Sumner-Brooks Episode — 
Know- Nothing Party — The Republican Party — The Koszta Incident — 
Perry in Japan : 368 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Marriage of Napoleon III. — The Crimean War — Invasion of the Crimea — The 
Charge of the Light Brigade — Inkerman — Sufferings of the Troops — Minis- 
terial Changes in England — Redan and Malakoff — Terms of Peace — Turk- 
ish Reforms — Revolution in Spain — British War with China — Opening of 
Japan — Minor Incidents 379 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Doctor Kane's Search for Franklin — The North-west Passage — New York Crys- 
tal Palace — Livingstone's Explorations — His First Work in Africa — Impor- 
tant Discoveries — Crossing the Continent — Victoria Falls — Niagara Sus- 
pension Bridge — Various Incidents 393 

CHAPTER XXXL 

James Buchanan Becomes President of the United States — Troubles in Kansas 
— John Brown at Harper's Ferry — The Dred-Scott Decision — Lincoln and 
Douglas — Lincoln Elected President — Secession — Attitude of the Washing- 
ton Government — Incidents of the Administration 400 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

End of British War with Persia — Origin of the Mutiny — The Greased Catridges 
— Outbreak at Meerut — Cawnpore and Lucknow — Suppression of the 
Mutiny — End of the East India Company — British and French in China- 
Moving on Peking — Fall of Peking — The Rise of Sardinia — Attempt to 
Kill Napoleon II — War with Austria — -Magenta and Solferino — Peace of 
Villafranca — Union of Northern Italy — Savoy and Nice — Garibaldi Liber- 
ates Naples and Sicily — Defeat of the Papal Army — Victor Emanuel King 
of Italy — Interests of Various Lands 408 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

First Atlantic Cable used for a few Messages — African Exploration — Living- 
stone Discovers Lake Nyassa — "Striking Oil" — Fate of Sir John Franklin — 
Literary Landmarks — The Death Roll 435 



CONTENTS. 2 1 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Abraham Lincoln Becomes President of the United States — Plans of Secession- 
. ists — Beginning of the War — The Great Uprising — The First Fighting — 
Bull Run — The "Trent" Affair — Fort Donelson — Pittsburg Landing — "Mer- 
rimac" and "Monitor" — Capture of New Orleans — McClellan's Campaigns — 
The Second Bull Run — Antietam — Emancipation — Operations in the West 
— Vicksburg — Chancellorsville — Gettysburg — Riots in New York — Chick- 
amauga — Grant in Virginia — Winchester — Sherman's March — Thomas in 
Tennessee — Naval Operations — End of the War — Assassination of Lincoln 
— President Johnson — Impeachment 440 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

Death of Prince Albert — Second Schelswig-Holstein War — The Prusso-Austrian 
Invasion — Prussia Takes the Lead — The Prusso-Austrian War — End of the 
War and Terms of Peace — Austro-Hungarian Reorganization — The Rise 
of Italy — Garibaldi — Maximilian's Short-lived Empire — Revolution in Spain 
— The Poles Finally Crushed — The Greek Revolution — Turkey — The Taip- 
ings — Cochin China 467 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Discovery of the Victoria Nile by Speke and Grant — Livingstone's Return — 
Another Expedition — Interests of Various Lands — Necrology 481 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Ulysses S. Grant Becomes President of the United States — Santo Domingo — 
Treaty of Washington — San Juan Boundary — Grant's Re-election — Indian 
Troubles — The Centennial State — Financial Troubles — The Disputed Elec- 
tion 485 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Irish Church Disestablished — Irish Land Act — Revolution in Spain — French 
Quarrel with Prussia — Beginning of the War — German Conquest of France 
■ — The French Republic — Siege of Paris — Surrender — Terms of Peace — The 
Commune — Strength of the Republic — The German Empire — Conference 
on the Black Sea — British Affairs — Gladstone and Disraeli — Ashantee War 
— Empress of India — The Suez Canal Shares— Occupation of Rome — King 
Amadeus — Germany and the Vatican — Emancipation in Brazil 493 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Completion of Pacific Railroad and Suez Canal — Obituary — Baker on the Nile 
— Chicago Fire — Mont Cenis Tunnel — Hoosac Tunnel — Polar Exploration 
—Stanley's Search for Livingstone —End of Livingstone's Career — Death 



22 CONTENTS. 

of Livingstone — Two Great Fires — The Centennial of Independence — Vari- 
ous Doings in Various Lands 510 

CHAPTER XL. 

Rutherford B. Hayes Becomes President of the United States — Civil Service Re- 
form — Free Coinage of Silver — Specie Payments — Incidents of the Admin- 
istration — Labor Troubles — Knights of Labor — Growth of the Order — First 
General Assembly — Presidential Election 520 

CHAPTER XLI. 

War Between Russia and Turkey — Plevna — Shipka Pass — Treaty of Stefano — 
Treaty of Berlin — Results of the War — Second Afghan War — Conquest of 
Burmah — Australia — Development of the Colonies — New Zealand — Can- 
ada — Irish Agitation — Crime in Ireland — "Boycotting" — Montenegro — 
Nihilism— Zulu and Transvaal Wars — Pope and King 526 

CHAPTER XLII. 

Stanley's Great Explorations in Africa — Vindication of Stanley — Stanley's 
Third Expedition — Paris Exposition — Arctic Exploration — Cologne Cathe- 
dral — Modern Inventions — Necrology 543 

CHAPTER XLII1. 

James A. Garfield Becomes President of the United States — President Arthur — 
The Isthmian Canal — Star Route Trials — Anti-Polygamy Law — Chinese 
Exclusion — Irish-American Convention — Exhibitions and Conventions — 
Foreign Envoys — The New Navy — Financial Panic — Political Doings .... 549 

' CHAPTER XLIV. 

Memorable Events Throughout the World — The Irish Problem — Egyptian Rev- 
olution — Bombardment of Alexandria — Fall of Arabi — The Soudan — Gor- 
don to the Rescue — In Khartoum — Dervishes Closing In — Siege of Khar- 
toum — The Relief Expedition — Hero and Martyr 55^ 

CHAPTER XLV. 

Panama Canal — Various Routes Surveyed — DeLesseps' Scheme — Reorganiza- 
tion — St. Gothard Tunnel — The East River Bridge — Great Earthquakes — 
Louis Pasteur — Necrology 565 

CHAPTER XLVI. 

Grover Cleveland Becomes President of the United States — The Navy — Rock 
Springs Massacre — The Presidential Succession — The Chicago Anarchists 
— Interstate Commerce — Presidential Campaign 573 



CONTENTS. 23 

CHAPTER XLVII. 

Russian Advance Toward Herat — Riel's Rebellion — Home Rule — The Queen's 
Jubilee — Expulsion of French Pretenders — Boulanger — Death of the Ger- 
man Emperor — German Affairs — In Many Lands 576 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 

Completion of Canadian Pacific Railway — ■ Earthquakes — Ship Canals — Stanley 
and Emin — A Noteworthy Expedition — Railroad to Samarcand — Blowing 
Up Hell Gate — Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty — The Great Blizzard — Necro- 
logy 580 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

Benjamin Harrison Becomes President of the United States — Additions to the 
Union — Pan-American Congress — Behring Sea — The McKinley Tariff- 
Controversies with Chili — Italian Massacre in New Orleans — Farmers' Alli- 
ance 585 

CHAPTER L. 

Boulanger Trial — German Affairs — Resignation of Bismarck — African Treaty 
— Triple Alliance — Revolution in Brazil — War in Chili — The Japanese Con- 
stitution 591 

CHAPTER LI. 

Great Storm and Disaster at Samoa — The Johnstown Flood — The Washing- 
ton Centenary — The Nicaragua Canal — Various Achievements — Peary in 
Greenland — The Columbian Celebration — The Death List 595 

CHAPTER LI1 

Grover Cleveland Becomes President of the United States — Ambassadors — 
Behring Sea Arbitration — Currency Troubles — The Silver Controversy — 
Bond Issues — The Tariff Fight — Admission of Utah — Foreign Affairs — 
The Venezuela Boundary — Election of McKinley 599 

CHAPTER LT.T1, 

Assassination of President Carnot of France — French Operations Abroad — Uni- 
versal Suffrage in Belgium — Italy in Abyssinia — African Affairs — China 
and Japan — Revolts in Cuba and Crete 607 

CHAPTER LIV. 
Columbian Fair and Celebrations — Quick Railroad Time — The Cherokee Lands 
— Centenary of the Capitol — Great Achievements — In Austria-Hungary 
— Necrology 611 



24 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER LV. 

William McKinley Becomes President of the United States — The Dingley Tariff 
— Partition of Samoa — Intervention in Cuba — "Remember the Maine" — 
Beginning the War — Manila Bay — Cervera's Fleet — Santiago — Peace Ne- 
gotiations — The Philippine Insurrection — Events of the Administration — 
Presidential Election 614 

CHAPTER LVL 
War Between Greece and Turkey — Queen Victoria's Jubilee — Redeeming the 
Soudan — Germany in China — The Dreyfus Case — Spoliation of Finland — 
Australian Federation — The Transvaal War — Anarchist Murders — The 
Boxer Outbreak in China 621 

CHAPTER LVII. 
Rudyard Kipling — Electrical Appliances — The Germ Theory — Liquid Air — 
Rapid Transit — Sewage Disposal — Polar Exploration — The Crew — Objects 
of the Expedition — The Galveston Flood — The Death Roll 627 



■safed. 




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Progress of the Century Frontispiece 

l800 Presidents of the United States during the 1 9th Century 31 

Thomas Jefferson, 1 801- 1809 

James Madison, 1809-18 17 

James Monroe, 1817-1825 

John Quincy Adams, 1825-1829 

Andrew Jackson, 1829- 1837 

Martin Van Buren, 183 7-1 841 

Wm. H. Harrison, 1841 

1800 American Fashions 32 

1804 First Balloon raised in the United States 49 

1804 Duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr ....... 50 

1805 Battle of Trafalgar 55 

1806 Fulton's First Steamboat on the Seine, Paris 56 

1807 Officers of the "Chesapeake" offering their swords to the officers of 

the "Leopard" 65 

1807 Fulton's Steamboat on the Hudson River 66 

1808 Scene in a Convent during the Franco-Spanish War 71 

1809 Napoleon at the Battle of Wagram 72 

1810 Prominent Inventors of the Nineteenth Century : 89 

James Watt 

Robert Fulton 

Samuel F. B. Morse 

Elias Howe 

Robert Stephenson 

Eli Whitney 

Friedrich Krupp 

Henry Bessemer 

Louis Daguerre 

I8I0 Slave Auction in St. Augustine, Florida 90 

l8l I General Harrison and Tecumseh — the Indian Chief 95 

l8l I Course of the Great Comet near the Rhine, Germany 96 

I8I2 Capture of the " Guerriere " by the "Constitution" 105 

l8l2 Napoleon on the Road to Russia 106 

1812 Napoleon Retreating from Moscow ill 

1813 Perry's Victory on Lake Erie 112 

1814 McDonough Pointing the Gun at the Battle of Lake Champlain ... 129 

1815 Napoleon Returning from Elba 130 

25 



26 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

I8I5 General Wellington at the Battle of Belle Alliance I35 

I815 General Blucher at the Battle of Waterloo 136 

I8I5 Napoleon ' ■ 145 

l8l5 Napoleon's Cavalry Charge at Waterloo 146 

1815 Napoleon on Board the " Bellerophon " 151 

l8l5 Decatur's Struggle with the Algerians 1 52 

I819 "Savannah" — First Steamship Crossing the Atlantic Ocean .... 169 

182 1 Pioneers Crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains . . . 170 

1823 Early Settlers in the Far West 175 

1823 "Washington" — First Steamship Between the United States and 

Germany 176 

1824 Lafayette Laying the Corner Stone of Bunker Hill Monument ... 185 

1825 First Steam Railway Between Stockton and Darlington, England . . 186 

I825 American Fashions 191 

1825 Great Scientists of the Nineteenth Century : 192 

Charles R. Darwin 
Thomas H. Huxley 
Alexander von Humboldt 
Sir John Herschel 
Justus Liebig 

1827 Naval Battle of Navarino 209 

1828 First Steam Railway in the United States 210 

I83O Indians Plundering Cattle in South Carolina 215 

1835 Dangers of Frontier Life 216 

I838 Thomas Simpson Discovering Victoria Land .,. 225 

I838 Col. Taylor at the Battle of Okeechobee 226 

I84I Presidents of the United States during the Nineteenth Century : . . . 231 

John Tyler, 1 841 -1 845 

James K. Polk, 1 845-1 849 

Zachary Taylor, 1849- 18 50 

Millard Fillmore, 1 850-1853 

Franklin Pierce, 185 3- 1857 

James Buchanan 18 57-1 86 1 

Abraham Lincoln, 1 861 -1865 

1847 Battle of Buena Vista — Mexican War 232 

1847 General Scott at Contreras, Mexico 249 

1847 General Scott Entering the City of Mexico 250 

1848 French Revolution — Populace Destroying the Throne 255 

1850 American Fashions 256 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 27 

I85O Eminent Statesmen of the Nineteenth Century : . . . , 265 

Daniel Webster 
Henry Clay 
Benjamin Disraeli 
Prince Bismarck 
James G. Blaine 
John C. Calhoun 
Lord Salisbury 

I85O Street Scene in Paris in the Middle of the Century 266 

I85O Stage and Mail Coach in the Middle of the Century '271 

I85O Henry Clay Making his Famous Speech on the "Missouri Compromise" 

in the United States Senate 272 

I855 Storming of the "Malakoff" — Crimean War 289 

I855 Projectors of the First Trans-Atlantic Cable 290 

1855 Paris Industrial Fair 295 

1856 Slaves Working on a Southern Plantation 296 

1857 " Great Eastern " Laying the First Trans-Atlantic Cable 305 

I859 Petroleum Wells Opened in Pennsylvania 306 

I859 Napoleon III. at the Battle of Solferino 311 

I859 Battle of Magenta between the Austrians and Italians ... .... 312 

i860 Leading Generals and Admirals of the Nineteenth Century : .... 329 

General Wellington 
General Lee 
General Sherman 
General Miles 
General Roberts 
General von Moltke 
General Meade 
Admiral Farragut 
Admiral Dewey 

1861 Firing on Fort Sumter 330 

1861 Defending Fort Sumter 335 

1862 Farragut's Fleet Passing Forts Jackson and St. Philip 336 

1862 Battle between the " Merrimac " and " Monitor " 345 

1862 An August Morning with Farragut . 346 

1862 " Merrimac " Sinking the " Cumberland " 351 

1863 Battle of Gettysburg . 352 

I863 Battle of Chattanooga 369 

I863 Lincoln Delivering his Famous Address at Gettysburg 370 

IS64 Sinking of the "Alabama" by the " Kearsarge " off the Coast of France 375 



28 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

I865 Assassination of President Lincoln . 376 

I865 Presidents of the United States During the Nineteenth Century : . . . 385 

Andrew Johnson, 1865-1869 

Ulysses S. Grant, 1869- 1877 

Rutherford Hayes, 1 877-1881 

James A. Garfield, 1881 

Chester A. Arthur, 1881-1885 

Grover Cleveland, 188 5- 1889 

Benjamin Harrison, 1889- 1893 

Grover Cleveland, 1893- 1897 

1868 Indians Attacking an Overland Coach 386 

1869 First Steamers Passing Through the Suez Canal 391 

1869 Opening the Central Pacific Railway 392 

1870 Famous Poetry and Prose Writers of the Nineteenth Century : . . . 409 

Lord Tennyson 

Charles Dickens 

Thomas Carlyle 

Sir Walter Scott 

Lord Byron 

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

Victor Hugo 

James Fennimore Cooper 

John Ruskin 

1870 Charge of the French Dragoons at Gravelotte 410 

I87O Bismarck Meeting Napoleon after the Battle of Sedan 415 

1870 Storming a Retreat — Franco-Prussian War 416 

1871 Cruelties of War — Shooting Spies 425 

1871 Stanley Finds Livingstone in Africa 426 

1873 Capitol at Washington Completed 431 

1875 American Fashions 432 

1875 Famous Poetry and Prose Writers of the Nineteenth Century ; . . . 449 

Henry W. Longfellow 
William Cullen Bryant 
Oliver Wendell Holmes 
John G. Whittier 
James Russell Lowell 
Ralph Waldo Emerson 
Washington Irving 
Harriet Beecher Stowe 
Mark Twain 

1876 Birdseye View of the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia 450 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 29 

1878 Berlin Congress 455 

1878 Thomas Edison, Inventor of the Phonograph 456 

l88l Laings Nek and Majuba Hill — Scene of Colley's Repulse 465 

1883 Completion of the Brooklyn Bridge 466 

1884 Gen. Gordon on the Road to Khartoum 471 

1886 Bartholdi's "Statue of Liberty," Erected in New York Harbor . . . 472 

1889 Eiffel Tower — World's Fair, Paris 489 

1890 Noted Music Composers of the Nineteenth Century : 490 

Wagner 

Beethoven 

Franz Liszt 

Felix Mendelssohn 

Mascagni 

Paderewski 

John Philip Sousa 

I89O Completion of the Firth of Forth Bridge, Scotland 495 

1893 Birdseye View of the World's Fair, Chicago 496 

1893 Gladstone Introducing the Irish Home Rule Bill in Parliament . . . 505 

1895 Louis Pasteur in his Laboratory 506 

1895 Popular Actors and Actresses of the Nineteenth Century : 511 

Edwin Booth 
Edwin Forrest 
Jenny Lind 
Sarah Bernhardt 
Mdme. Adelina Patti 
Henry Irving 
J. P. Kemble 
Joseph Jefferson 
Richard Mansfield 

1896 Italians Fighting Against King Menelik in Abyssinia 512 

1896 Czar Nicholas II. Crowns Himself in the Kremlin of Moscow .... 529 

1897 Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee 530 

1898 Battle of Manila Bay 535 

1899 Peace Conference at The Hague, Holland 536 

1900 American Fashions 545 

1900 United States Government Building, Paris Universal Exposition . . . 546 

1900 Leading Rulers of the World: 55 1 

President of the United States 
Queen of England 
President of France 
Emperor of Germany 
Czar of Russia 



30 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

ipOO Leading Rulers of the World (continued) 552 

Queen of Holland 

King of Norway and Sweden 

King of Denmark 

King of Belgium 

King of Greece 

1900 Leading Rulers of the World (continued) , 569 

Emperor of Austria 
King of Italy- 
King of Spain 
Sultan of Turkey 
Khedive of Egypt 

I9OO In the Bowels of the Earth 570 

I9OO At the Bottom of the Sea ....•• 587 

1900 Remarkable Inventions of the Nineteenth Century : 588 

Typewriting Machine 
Telegraph Instrument 
Typesetting Machine 
Sewing Machine 
Gramophone 
Stationary Engine 

1900 Remarkable Inventions of the Nineteenth Century : 605 

X-Ray Machine 

Ten-inch Disappearing Rifle 

Automobile 

Electric Light 

Telephone 

Underground Electric Railway Car 

I900 Remarkable Inventions of the Nineteenth Century : 606 

Printing Press 
Self-Binding Harvester 
Locomotive 




JAMES MONR( 







ANDREW JACKSON 




JAMES MADISON 




THOMAS JEFFERSON 




WM H. HARRISON 




..JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 




MARTIN VAN BUREN 



I800-PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES DURING THE i 9 th CENTURY 




1800— AMERICAN FASHIONS 



CHAPTER L 



Ddtwn of the New Century— Washington the National Capital— War with 
Tripoli— Ohio Admitted to the Union— Duel Between Hamilton 
and Burr — The Louisiana Purchase — Re-election of Mr. 
Jefferson— Trouble with England and France— The 
Embargo — Impressment of Seeunen — Chesapeake 
and Leopard— The First Steamboat- 
Jefferson's Retirement 



THE dawn of the Nineteenth Century, on January I, 1801, was 
marked with no great convulsion of nature or other phenomenon. 
The processes of the universe maintained their way unmoved. 
Yet there was ushered in, upon the terrestrial stage, the greatest 
era of recorded time, and forces were even then at work which were 
destined speedily to change the political and social face of the globe. 
Of all the lands of the earth, only two continents were then of marked 
importance — Europe and North America. South America was slumber- 
ing the unquiet sleep of mediaeval Spanish tyranny, but on the point of 
awaking with tremendous energy. Asia was still scarcely touched by 
the hand of modern progress, and most of its countries were forbidden 
lands to all outsiders. Africa was emphatically a "Dark Continent;'' 
only a spot here and there and on its extreme borders made the fight- 
ing ground of European powers. The islands of the sea were 
practically unknown. 

WASHINGTON THE NATIONAL CAPITAL. 

In the United States, independence had become an established fact, 
the Constitution was in full working order, the city of Washington had 
become the national capital, and the third presidential term, that of John 
Adams, was drawing to its close. Adams had been betrayed by men of 
his own party, and his party had been rendered unpopular by its Alien 
and Sedition laws and other acts. Accordingly a second term had been 
denied to Mr. Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, his political opponent, had 

3 33 



34 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

been elected in his place. This had been effected in a close election 
Jefferson and Aaron Burr had each received the same number ol 
electoral votes, and the matter had then been referred to Congress, 
which finally chose Jefferson President and Burr Vice-President. As 
a sequel to that memorable contest, the Constitution was amended, and 
the present system of electing President and Vice-President was 
adopted. 

Mr. Jefferson was the leader of what was then called the Republi- 
can party, now known as the Democratic, and was popularly regarded 
as the Apostle of Democracy. He turned his back upon the stateliness 
and ceremony that had marked the administrations of Washington and 
Adams, and practiced the utmost simplicity. He would have no cere- 
monies at the White House, no formal receptions, no invited guests. 
He would not be called "Your Excellency" or even "The Honorable." 
Even the title "Mr." was repugnant to him. "Citizen Jefferson" was 
his favorite appellation. His inauguration was marked with no cere- 
mony, and at the opening of Congress, instead of going before it in 
person and addressing it, as Washington and Adams had done, he sent 
it by messenger — a written message — an example which has been in- 
variably followed by all Presidents since. 

WAR WITH TRIPOLI. 

In his first message to Congress Jefferson called attention to the 
unjust and insolent demands of the pirate-fostering government of 
Tripoli upon the United States, and reported that he had sent a naval 
force to the Mediterranean to resist them. In 1803 a squadron of seven 
ships was sent thither, of which one of the largest, the " Philadelphia" 
frigate, ran aground in the harbor of Tripoli and was captured by the 
Tripolitans. Soon afterward, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, with seventy- 
five men in a small vessel which had been taken from the Tripolitans, 
stealthily entered the harbor in the evening, boarded the "Philadelphia," 
killed the Tripolitan crew, and set the ship afire. The " Philadelphia" 
was destroyed, and Decatur and his men made good their escape. In 
July, 1804, a general attack was made by the American fleet upon 
Tripoli, in which Decatur again greatly distinguished himself. Further 
operations checked the piratical zeal of Tripoli, and added great lustre 
to the American arms. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 35 

During Jefferson's administration the United States Military Acad- 
emy, at West Point, N. Y., was founded, and thus provision was made 
for the military as well as the naval efficiency of the nation. 

OHIO ADMITTED TO THE UNION. 

At the beginning of Mr. Jefferson's administration the Union con- 
sisted of sixteen States — Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee having 
been added to the original thirteen. Early in his administration in 
1803, Ohio was admitted as the seventeenth State. A little later the 
Territory of Michigan was formed, and the way thus opened for the 
ultimate creation of another State. 

Nor was this the only step toward great expansion of the area of 
the Nation. Early in his first tern Jefferson dispatched an expedition, 
under the lead of Lewis and Clarke, two Virginians, to cross the con- 
tinent to the Pacific coast, to take possession of the country in the name 
of the United States. This expedition made its way up the Missouri 
River, across the Rocky Mountains, and down the Columbia River to 
the Pacific, reaching the coast in 1805. This led to the establishment, 
six years later, of John Jacob Astor's fur-trading post at Astoria, and 
the settlement of the region now forming the States of Oregon and 
Washington. 

DUEL BETWEEN HAMILTON AND BURR. 

On July 12, 1804, Alexander Hamilton, probably the greatest 
statesman the Western Hemisphere has ever produced, died in New 
York, in consequence of a wound inflicted by Aaron Burr in a duel 
fought at Hoboken the day before. The two men were political oppo- 
nents, and their quarrel arose out of a political controversy, in which 
Burr deemed his ambitious schemes imperilled by Hamilton, and accord- 
ingly determined to remove the latter from his path. The result was 
that the land was plunged into all but universal mourning, and from that 
moment forward Burr was regarded with general detestation. 

Finding himself a political outcast, Burr thereupon played the part 
of a traitor. Leaguing himself with other unscrupulous, ambitious and 
discontented men, he formed the scheme of establishing in the south- 
western part of this country an Empire of which he should be the head. 
New Orleans was to be his capital city. He was arrested and tried for 
treason in 1807, but for lack of technical evidence was not convicted. 
On his release he went abroad and ended his days in obscurity. 



36 8T0RY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 

The great measure of the first term of Mr. Jefferson's administra 
tion was the acquisition and annexation to the United States of the great 
country of Louisiana, which was purchased of France for the sum of 
$15,000,000. This country was first colonized by the French in 1699. 
In 1752, it was ceded by France to Spain, and, in 1800, it was ceded 
back by Spain to France. Upon receiving intelligence of this intended 
transfer, great sensibility prevailed in Congress, and a proposition was 
made to occupy the place by force ; but, after an animated discussion, 
the project was relinquished, and negotiations with France were com- 
menced by Mr. Jefferson for the purchase of the whole country of 
Louisiana, which ended in an agreement to that effect, signed at Paris, 
April 30, 1803, by which the United States were to pay France 
$15,000,000. Early in December, 1803, the commissioners of Spain 
delivered possession to France, and, on the 20th of the same month, the 
authorities of France duly transferred the country to the United States. 

RE-ELECTION OF MR. JEFFERSON 

In 1805 Mr. Jefferson was elected a second time to the office of 
President. The electoral votes were 176, of which he received 162. 
George Clinton was chosen Vice-President. 

At the time when Mr. Jefferson was raised to the presidency, the 
state of the country was highly prosperous, and it so continued during 
his first presidential term. The conflicts between the two great political 
parties, which had greatly agitated the country during the preceding 
administration, still continued ; but the party which sustained Mr. Jeffer- 
son increased in strength to such a degree that he was re-elected by an 
almost unanimous vote. 

TROUBLE WITH ENGLAND AND FRANCE. 

The war which had for a number of years been raging between 
Great Britain and France had involved nearly all the nations of Europe. 
America endeavored to maintain a neutrality towards the belligerents, 
and peaceably to carry on a commerce with them. Being the great 
neutral trader, she had an interest in extending the privileges of neu- 
trality, which the belligerents, on the contrary, were inclined to contract 
within the narrowest limits. In April, 1806, the British ship "Leander" 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 37 

fired upon the American coaster " Richard," off Sandy Hook, killing the 
helmsman. This incident added much to the strain upon relations 
between the two countries. In May, 1806, the Britisn Government 
declared all the ports and rivers, from the Elbe in Germany to Brest in 
France, to be blockaded, and all American vessels, trading with these 
interdicted ports, were liable to seizure and condemnation. In the ensu- 
ing November, 1806, the Emperor of France issued his Berlin Decree, 
declaring the British Islands in a state of blockade, and prohibiting all 
intercourse with them. Next followed, in November, 1807, the British 
Orders in Council, by which all neutral vessels, trading with France, 
were compelled to stop at a British port and pay a duty. In consequence 
of this measure, Bonaparte issued, in December, 1807, the Milan Decree, 
by which every vessel which should submit to British search, or consent 
to any pecuniary exactions whatever, was confiscated. 

THE EMBARGO. 

In the same month (December, 1807), on the recommendation of 
Mr. Jefferson, Congress laid an embargo on all the shipping of the 
United States. This measure was designed to retaliate on both Eng- 
land and France, and also to put the United States in a better state of 
defence, by retaining their vessels and seamen at home ; but, inasmuch 
as it annihilated all foreign commerce, it operated with great severity on 
the interests of the people, and became unpopular; and in March, 1809, 
the embargo was removed, and non-intercourse with France and Great 
Britain was substituted. 

While matters continued in this state, new causes of provocation 
continually occurred. The trade of the United States was harassed by 
both of the belligerents ; and the government was accused in Britain of 
partiality to France, and in France of pusillanimously submitting to the 
insults of Britain. 

IMPRESSMENT OF SEAMEN. 

But one species of injury, which was keenly felt and loudly com- 
plained of in this country, the United States suffered exclusively from 
Britain. This was the impressment of her seamen, on board the Ameri- 
can vessels, by British men-of-war. The similarity of language renders 
it difficult to distinguish American from British seamen; but there is rea- 
son to believe, that, on some occasions, the British officers were not 



38 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

anxious to make the distinction, being determined, at all hazards, to 
procure men ; and American seamen were compelled to serve in the 
British navy and fight the battles of Britain. 

The British, on the other hand, complained that their seamen 
escaped on board American vessels, to which they were encouraged, and 
where they were carefully concealed ; and they contended for the right 
of searching American merchant vessels for their own runaway seamen. 
This custom had been long practiced ; was a fruitful source of irritation 
and was submitted to, with extreme reluctance, on the part of the 
Americans, who maintained that, under British naval officers, it was 
often conducted in the most arbitrary manner, with little regard to the 
feelings of those against whom it was enforced ; and that, under the 
color of this search, native seamen were frequently dragged on board 
British vessels. 

CHESAPEAKE AND LEOPARD. 

The custom of searching for British seamen had hitherto been con- 
fined to private vessels, but, in 1807, it was ascertained that four seamen 
had deserted from the British service, and entered on board the " Chesa- 
peake," an American frigate, commanded by Commodore Barron, and 
carrying $6 guns. Captain Humphreys, of the "Leopard," an English 
frigate of 50 guns, in compliance with the orders of Admiral Berkeley, 
followed the "Chesapeake" beyond the Capes of Virginia, and, after 
demanding the deserters, fired a broadside upon the American frigate, 
and killed and wounded about 20 men. The "Chesapeake" struck her 
colors, and the four seamen were given up. 

This outrage occasioned a general indignation throughout the 
country, and was deemed, by many, in conjunction with other causes, a 
sufficient ground for declaring war. The President issued a proclama- 
tion, ordering all British vessels of war to quit the waters of the United 
States, and forbidding all intercourse between them and the inhabitants. 
The British government disavowed the attack on the "Chesapeake;" yet 
the measures taken with regard to the affair were far from being satis- 
factory to the government of this country. 

THE FIRST STEAMBOAT. 

During Jefferson's administration, steps were taken for the material 
enlargement of the army and navy to meet the troublous times which 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 39 

were plainly to be foreseen. There occurred, also, an incident which was 
full of meaning and promise for the future of not only the navy but the 
mercantile marine and the whole world of commerce. This was the 
completion of Robert Fulton's first steamboat, the " Clermont," and its 
successful trial trip upon the Hudson River. People traveled far to see 
the mysterious vessel, as it puffed fire and smoke, and moved through 
the water against wind and tide, without sail, paddle, or oar. Great 
activity in steamboat building followed. The "Phcenix," another paddle- 
wheel boat, built by John Stevens, was put upon the Delaware in 1808. 
The "Orleans," with a stern wheel, the first steamboat on the Mis- 
sissippi, went from Pittsburg, where she was built, to New Orleans in 
fourteen days in 181 2. 

JEFFERSON'S RETIREMENT. 

As his second term in the White House drew to a close, and the 
time came for the election of another President, Mr. Jefferson signified 
his determination to follow and confirm the example of Washington, by 
retiring to private life at the expiration of his second term. " Never did 
a prisoner," said he, " released from his chains, feel such relief as I shall, 
on shaking off the shackles of power. I thank God for the opportunity 
of retiring from them without censure, and carrying with me the most 
constant proofs of public approbation. I leave everything in the hands 
of men so able to take care of them, that, if we are destined to meet 
misfortunes, it will be because no human wisdom could avert them." 
James Madison was chosen his successor, and George Clinton re-elected 
Vice-President. 



CHAPTER II. 



The Napoleonic Wars — Copenhagen — Alexandria — Reconstruction of 

France — War Renewed — England Threatened with Invasion — £m- 

mett's Rebellion — Napoleon Made Emperor — Ulm, Trafalgar 

and Austerlitz— Changing the Map of Europe — Jena and 

Auerstadt — Friedland — The Peninsular War — 

French Troops in Madrid — Victories of 

Napoleon. 



THE Nineteenth Century opened in Europe in the midst of the era 
of Napoleonic wars. Napoleon Bonaparte, then Consul of France 
and soon to be Emperor, had, under the peace of Luneville, been 
successfully planning a union of the northern powers against 
England. On December 16, 1800, accordingly, a maritime confederacy 
was signed by Russia, Sweden and Denmark, and soon after by Prussia, 
as an acceding party. This league, aimed principally against England, 
was designed to protect the commerce of the northern powers on prin- 
ciples similar to the armed neutrality of 1780 ; but its effect would have 
been, if correctly carried out, to deprive England, in great part, of her 
naval superiority. The Danish government had previously ordered her 
armed vessels to resist the search of British cruisers, and the Russian 
Emperor had issued an embargo on all the British ships in his harbors. 

COPENHAGEN. 

England, determined to anticipate her enemies, despatched, as soon 
as possible, a powerful fleet to the Baltic, under the command of Nelson 
and Sir Hyde Parker. Passing through the Sound, under the fire of the 
Danish batteries, on the 30th of March, the fleet came to anchor opposite 
the harbor of Copenhagen, which was protected by an imposing array of 
forts, men-of-war, fire ships and floating batteries. On the 2d of April 
Nelson brought his ships into the harbor, where, in a space not exceed- 
ing a mile and a half in extent, they were received by a tremendous fire 
from more than 2000 cannons. The English replied with equal 

40 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 41 

spirit, and after four hours of incessant cannonade the whole front line of 
Danish vessels and floating batteries was silenced, with a loss to the 
Danes of more than 6000 men. The English loss was 1 200. Of this 
battle Nelson said, "I have been in 105 engagements, but that of 
Copenhagen was the most terrible of them all." 

While Nelson was preparing to follow up his success by attacking 
the Russian fleet in the Baltic, news reached him of an event at St. 
Petersburg which changed the whole current of Northern policy. A 
conspiracy of Russian noblemen was formed against the Emperor Paul, 
who was strangled in his chamber on the night of the 24th of March. 
His son and successor, Alexander, at once resolved to abandon the con- 
federacy, and to cultivate the friendship of Great Britain. Sweden, 
Denmark and Prussia followed his example ; and thus was dissolved, in 
less than six months after it had been formed, the League of the North — 
the most formidable confederacy ever arrayed against the maritime 
power of England. 

ALEXANDRIA. 

While these events were transpiring in Europe, the army which 
Napoleon had left in Egypt under the command of Kleber, after losing 
its leader by the hands of an obscure assassin, was doomed to yield to an 
English force sent out under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, who fell at the head 
of his victorious columns on the plains of Alexandria. By the terms of 
capitulation the French troops, to the number of 24,000, were con- 
veyed to France with their arms, baggage and artillery. As Malta 
had previously surrendered to the British, there was now little left 
to contend for between France and England. To the great joy of both 
nations preliminaries of peace were signed at London on the 1st of 
October, and on the 27th of March, 1802, tranquillity was restored 
throughout Europe by the definite treaty of Amiens. 

RECONSTRUCTION OF FRANCE. 

Napoleon now directed all his energies to the reconstruction of 
society in France, the general improvement of the country, and the con- 
solidation of the power he had acquired. By a general amnesty one 
hundred thousand emigrants were enabled to return ; the Roman 
Catholic religion was restored, to the discontent of ttie Parisians, but to 
the great joy of the rural population ; a system of public instruction was 



42 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

established under the auspices of the government ; to bring back that 
gradation of rank in society that the Revolution had overthrown, the 
Legion of Honor was instituted, an order of nobility founded on personal 
merit ; great public works were set on foot throughout France ; the 
collection of the heterogeneous laws of the Monarchy and the Republic 
into one consistent whole, under the title of the Code Napoleon, was 
commenced, an undertaking which has deservedly covered the name of 
Napoleon with glory, and survived all the other achievements of his 
genius ; and finally the French nation, as a permanent pledge of their 
confidence, by an almost unanimous vote, conferred upon their favorite 
and idol the title and authority of consul for life. 

In his relations with foreign states the conduct of Napoleon was less 
honorable. He arbitrarily established a government in Holland, entirely 
subservient to his will ; and he moulded the northern Italian republics at 
his pleasure ; he interfered in the dissensions of the Swiss cantons to 
establish a government in harmony with the monarchical institutions 
which he was introducing in Paris, and when the Swiss resisted he sent 
Ney at the head of twenty thousand men to enforce obedience. England 
remonstrated in vain, and the Swiss, in despair, submitted to the yoke 
imposed upon them. Napoleon was less successful in an attempt to 
recover the island of St. Domingo, which had revolted from French 
authority. Forces to the number of 35,000 men were sent out 
to reduce the island, and the patriot Toussaint l'Ouverture was betrayed 
to his death, but nearly all the French troops perished — victims of 
fatigue, disease, and the perfidy of their own government. 

WAR RENEWED. 

It soon became evident that the peace of Amiens could not be per- 
manent. The encroachments of France upon the feebler European 
powers, the armed occupation of Holland, the great accumulations of 
troops on the shores of the British Channel, and the evident designs of 
Napoleon upon Egypt, excited the jealousy of England, and the latter 
refused to evacuate Malta, Alexandria and the Cape of Good Hope, in 
accordance with the late treaty stipulations, until satisfactory explanations 
should be given by the French government. Bitter recriminations fol- 
lowed on both sides, and in the month of May, 1803, the cabinet of 
London issued letters of marque and an embargo on all French vessels 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 43 

in British ports. Napoleon retaliated by ordering the arrest of all the 
English then in France between the ages of eighteen and sixty years. 

ENGLAND THREATENED WITH INVASION. 

The first military operations of the French were rapid and success- 
ful. The electorate of Hanover, a dependency of England, was quickly 
conquered, and in utter disregard of neutral rights the whole of the 
north of Germany was at once occupied by French troops, while simul- 
taneously an army was sent into southern Italy to take possession of the 
Neapolitan territories. But these movements were insignificant when 
compared with Napoleon's gigantic preparations ostensibly for the inva- 
sion of England. Forts and batteries were constructed on every head- 
land and accessible point of the channel ; the number of vessels and 
small craft assembled along the coast was immense ; and the fleets of 
France, Holland and Spain were to aid in the enterprise. England 
made the most vigorous preparations for repelling the anticipated inva- 
sion, which, however, was not attempted, and perhaps never seriously 
intended. 

EMMETT'S REBELLION. 

The year of the renewal of the war was further distinguished by an 
unhappy attempt at rebellion in Ireland against the union of Ireland with 
Great Britain, which had been effected at the beginning of the century. 
The leaders, Russell and Emmett, were seized, brought to trial, and ex- 
ecuted. Early in the following year, 1804, a conspiracy against the 
power of Napoleon was detected in which the generals, Moreau and 
Pichegru, and the royalist leader, Georges, were implicated. Moreau 
was allowed to leave the country, Pichegru was found strangled in prison 
and Georges was executed. Napoleon, either believing, or affecting to 
believe, that the young Duke D'Enghien, a Bourbon prince, then living 
in the neutral territory of Baden, was concerned in this plot, caused him 
to be seized and hurried to Vincennes, where, after a mock trial, he was 
shot by the sentence of a court-martial, an act which has fixed an indeli- 
ble stain on the memory of Napoleon, as not the slightest evidence of 
criminality was brought against the unhappy prince. 

Owing to the intimate connection that had been formed between the 
courts of Paris and Madrid, England sent out a fleet in the autumn of 
1804, before any declaration of war had been made, to interrupt the 



44 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

homeward-bound treasure frigates of Spain ; and these were captured, 
with valuable treasure amounting to more than two million pounds ster- 
ling. The British government was severely censured for this hasty act. 
Spain now openly joined France and declared war against England. 

NAPOLEON MADE EMPEROR. 

On the 1 8th of May of this year Napoleon was created, by decree 
of the Senate, Emperor of the French, and on the 2d of December, 
1804, was solemnly crowned by the Pope, who had been induced to 
come to Paris for that purpose. The principal powers of Europe, with 
the exception of Great Britain, recognized the new sovereign. On the 
26th of May of the following year he was formally anointed sovereign 
of Northern Italy. The iron crown of Charlemagne, which had quietly 
reposed a thousand years, was brought forward to give interest to the 
ceremony, and Napoleon placed it on his own head, at the same time 
pronouncing the words, " God hath given it to me ; beware of 
touching it." 

The continued usurpations charged upon Napoleon at length in- 
duced the Northern Powers to listen to the solicitations of England ; 
and in the summer of 1805 a new coalition, embracing Russia, Austria 
and Sweden, was formed against France. Prussia, tempted by the glit- 
tering prize of Hanover, which Napoleon held out to her, persisted in 
her neutrality, with an evident leaning towards the French interest. 
The Austrian Emperor precipitately commenced the war by invading the 
neutral territory of Bavaria, an act as unjustifiable as any of which he 
accused Napoleon. The latter seized the opportunity of branding his 
enemies as aggressors in the contest, and declared himself the protector 
of the liberties of Europe. 

ULM, TRAFALGAR AND AUSTERLITZ. 

In the latter part of September, 1805, tne French forces, in eight 
divisions, and numbering 180,000 men, were on the banks of the Rhine, 
preparing to carry the war into Austria. The advance of Napoleon was 
rapid, and everywhere the enemy was driven before him. On the 20th 
of October Napoleon, having surrounded the Austrian general, Mack, 
at Ulm, compelled him to surrender his whole force of 20,000 men. On 
the very next day, however, the English fleet, commanded by Admiral 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 45 

Nelson, gained a great naval victory off Cape Trafalgar, over the com- 
bined fleets of France and Spain ; but it was dearly purchased by the 
death of the hero. On the 13th of November Napoleon entered 
Vienna, and on the 2d of December he gained the great battle of Aus- 
terlitz, the most glorious of all his victories, which resulted in the total 
overthrow of the combined Russian and Austrian armies, and enabled 
the victor to dictate peace on his own terms. The Emperor of Russia, 
who was not a party to the treaty, withdrew his troops into his own ter- 
ritories ; the King of Prussia received Hanover as a reward of his neu- 
trality ; and Great Britain alone remained at open war with France. 

CHANGING THE MAP OF EUROPE. 

While the English now prosecuted the war with vigor on the ocean, 
humbled the Mahratta powers in India, subdued the Dutch colony of the 
Cape and took Buenos Ayres from the Spaniards, Napoleon rapidly 
extended his supremacy over the continent of Europe. In February, 
1806, he sent an army to take possession of Naples, because the king, 
instigated by his queen, an Austrian princess, had received an army of 
Russians and English into his capital. The king of Naples fled to Sicily, 
and Napoleon conferred the vacant crown upon his brother Joseph. 
Napoleon next placed his brother Louis on the throne of Holland ; he 
erected various districts in Germany and Italy into dukedoms, which he 
bestowed on his principal marshals, while fourteen princes in the south 
and west of Germany were induced to form the Confederation of the 
Rhine and place themselves under the protection of France. By this 
latter stroke of policy on the part of Napoleon a population of sixteen 
millions was cut off from the Germanic dominion of Austria. 

In the negotiations which Napoleon was at this time carrying 
on with England, propositions were made for the restoration of Han- 
over to that power, although it had recently been given to Prussia. 
It was, moreover, suspected that Napoleon had offered to win the 
favor of Russia at the expense of his Prussian ally. These and 
other causes aroused the indignation of the Prussians, and the Prus- 
sian monarch openly joined the coalition against Napoleon before his 
own arrangements were completed or his allies could yield him any 
assistance. Both England and Russia had promised him their co- 
operation. 



46 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

JENA AND AUERSTADT. 

With his usual promptitude Napoleon put his troops in motion, and 
on the 8th of October reached the advanced Prussian outposts. On the 
14th he routed the Prussians with terrible slaughter in the battle of Jena, 
and on the same day Marshal Davoust gained the battle of Auerstadt, 
in which the Duke of Brunswick was mortally wounded. On these 
two fields the loss of the Prussians was nearly 20,000 in killed and 
wounded, besides nearly as many prisoners. The total loss of the 
French was 14,000. In a single day the strength of the Prussian 
monarchy was prostrated. Napoleon rapidly followed up his victories, 
and on the 25th his vanguard, under Marshal Davoust, entered Berlin, 
only a fortnight after the commencement of hostilities. 

Encouraged by his successes, Napoleon issued a series of edicts 
from Berlin, declaring the British Islands in a state of blockade and 
excluding British manufacturers from all the continental ports. He 
then pursued the Russians into Poland ; on the 30th of November his 
troops entered Warsaw without resistance, but on the 26th of December 
his advanced forces received a check in the severe battle of Pultusk. 
On the 8th of February, 1807, a sanguinary battle was fought at Eylau, 
in which each side lost 20,000 men, and both claimed the victory. 
In some minor engagements the allies had the advantage, but these were 
more than counterbalanced by the siege and fall of the important fortress 
of Dantzic, which had a garrison of 17,000 men, and was defended by 
900 cannon. 

FRIEDLAND. 

At length, on the 14th of June, Napoleon fought the great and 
decisive battle of Friedland, and the broken remains of the Russian army 
fell back upon the Niemen. An armistice was now agreed to ; on the 
25th of June the emperors of France and Russia met for the first time, 
with great pomp and ceremony, on a raft in the middle of the Niemen, 
and on the 7th of July signed the treaty of Tilsit. All sacrifices were 
made at the expense of the Prussian monarch, who received back only 
about one-half of his dominions. The elector of Saxony, the ally of 
France, was rewarded with that portion of the Prussian territory which, 
prior to the first partition in 1772, formed part of the kingdom of 
Poland ; this portion was now erected into the grand-duchy of Warsaw. 
Out of another portion was formed the kingdom of Westphalia, which 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 47 

was bestowed upon Jerome Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon ; and 
Russia agreed to aid the French emperor in his designs against British 
commerce. 

Soon after the treaty of Tilsit it became evident to England that 
Napoleon would leave no means untried to humble that power on the 
ocean, and it was believed that, with the connivance of Russia, he was 
making arrangements with Denmark and Portugal for the conversion of 
their fleets to his purposes. England, menaced with an attack from the 
combined navies of Europe, but resolving to anticipate the blow, sent a 
powerful squadron against Denmark, with an imperious demand for the 
instant surrender of the Danish fleet and naval stores, to be held as 
pledges until the conclusion of the war. A refusal to comply with this 
summons was followed by a four-days' bombardment of Copenhagen and 
the final surrender of the fleet. Denmark, though deprived of her 
navy, resented the hostility of England by throwing herself, without 
reserve, into the arms of France. The navy of Portugal was saved from 
falling into the power of France by sailing, at the instigation of the 
British, to Rio Janeiro, the capital of the Portuguese colony of Brazil. 
Napoleon had already announced, in one of his imperial edicts, that "the 
House of Braganza had ceased to reign," and had sent an army under 
Junot to occupy Portugal. On the 27th of November the Portuguese 
fleet, bearing the prince regent, the queen and court, sailed for Brazil ; 
and on the 30th the French took possession of Lisbon. 

THE PENINSULAR WAR. 

The designs of Napoleon for the dethronement of the Peninsular 
monarchs had been approved by Alexander in the conferences of Tilsit ; 
and wken Napoleon returned to Paris he set on foot a series of intrigues 
at Madrid, which soon gave him an opportunity of interfering in the 
domestic affairs of the Spanish nation, his recent ally. Charles IV oi 
Spain, a weak monarch, was the dupe of his faithless wife and of his 
unprincipled minister, Godoy. The latter, secured in the French interest 
by the pretended gift of a principality formed out of dismembered 
Portugal, allowed the French troops under Murat to enter Spain, and 
by fraud and false pretences the frontier fortresses were soon in the 
hands ot the invaders. Too late Godoy found himself the dupe of his 
own treachery. Charles, intimidated by the difficulties of his situation. 



48 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

resigned the crown to his son Ferdinand, but, by French intrigues, was 
soon after induced to disavow his abdication, while at the same time 
Ferdinand was led to expect a recognition of his royal title from the 
Emperor Napoleon. The deluded prince and his father were both 
enticed to Bayonne, where they met Napoleon, who soon compelled both 
to abdicate, and gave the crown to his brother Joseph, who had been 
summoned from the kingdom of Naples to become king of Spain. The 
Neapolitan kingdom was bestowed upon Murat as a reward for his 
military services. 

Although many of the Spanish nobility tamely acquiesced in this 
foreign usurpation of the sovereignty of the kingdom, yet the great bulk 
of the nation rose in arms ; Ferdinand, although a prisoner in France, 
was proclaimed king ; a national junta, or council, was chosen to direct 
the affairs of the government ; and the English at once sent large sup- 
plies of arms and ammunition to their new allies, while Napoleon was 
preparing an overwhelming force to sustain his usurpation. A new 
direction was thus given to affairs, and for a time the European war 
centered in the Spanish Peninsula. 

FRENCH TROOPS IN MADRID. 

In the first contests with the invaders the Spaniards were generally 
successful. A French squadron in the Bay of Cadiz, prevented from 
escaping by the presence of an English fleet, was forced to surrender ; 
Marshal Moncey, at the head of 8000 men, was repulsed in an attack 
on the city of Valencia ; Saragossa, defended by the heroic Palafox, 
sustained a siege of sixty-three days, and, although reduced to a heap 
of ruins, drove the French troops from its walls ; Cordova was indeed 
taken and plundered by the French marshal Dupont, yet that officer 
himself was soon after compelled to surrender at Baylen, with 8000 men, 
to the patriot general Castanos. This latter event occurred on the 20th 
of July, the very day on which Joseph Bonaparte made his triumphal 
entry into Madrid. But the new king himself was soon obliged to flee, 
and the French forces were driven beyond the Ebro. 

In the meantime the spirit of resistance had extended to Portugal ; 
a junta had been established at Oporto to conduct the government ; 
British troops were sent to aid the insurgents, and on the 21st of August 
Marshal Junot was defeated at Vimiera by Sir Arthur Wellesley. This 




1804— FIRST BALLOON RAISED IN THE UNITED STATES 




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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 5 1 

battle was followed by the convention of Cintra, which led to the evacu- 
ation of Portugal by the French forces. 

VICTORIES OF NAPOLEON. 

Great was the mortification of Napoleon at this inauspicious be- 
ginning of the Peninsular war, and he deemed it necessary to take the 
field in person. Collecting his troops with the greatest rapidity, in the 
early part of November he was in the north of Spain at the head of 
180,000 men. He at once communicated his own energy to the 
operations of the army ; the Spaniards were severely defeated at Rey- 
nosa, Burgos and Tudela, and on the 4th of December Napoleon forced 
an entrance into the capital. The British troops, who were marching to 
the assistance of the Spaniards, were driven back upon Corunna, and 
being there attacked while making preparations to embark, they com- 
pelled the enemy to retire, but their brave commander, Sir John Moore, 
was mortally wounded. On the following day the British abandoned the 
shores of Spain, and the possession of the country seemed assured to the 
French Emperor. In the meantime difficulties had arisen between the 
French Emperor and the Pope Pius VII ; French troops entered Rome, 
and by a decree of Napoleon the Papal States were annexed to the 
French Empire. This was followed by a bill of excommunication against 
Napoleon, whereupon the Pope was seized and conveyed a prisoner into 
France, where he was detained until the spring of 18 14. 

Other events that deserve notice were the conquest and annexation 
of Georgia by Russia in 1801, the independence of Hayti in 1803, the 
assumption of the title of Emperor by the sovereign of Austria, the death 
of Pitt in 1806, the formal end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, 
Great Britain's abolition of the slave trade in 1807, and Russia's conquest 
of Finland in 1808. 



CHAPTER III. 



General Progress of the World — Independence of Hayti — Seizure of 
Toussaint — Bloody Independence — King' Henry — Peruvian Revolu- 
tion — Buenos Ayres — Disaster to the British — Storming' of 
Buenos Ayres — Moving* for Independence — Civil Dissen- 
sions — Success of the Revolution — Other Countries 
Revolt — Colombian Independence — Science 
and Literature — American Literature. 



THE world at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century was in a 
transition state. Revolutionary impulses prevailed in politics, and 
in science and art men were just upon the verge of wonderful 
achievements, of which the first premonitions were beginning to 
be appreciated. In electricity the discoveries of Franklin, Volta and 
Galvani had startled the world. Lagrange and Laplace had developed 
mathematical analysis. Zoology and geology had been erected into 
definite sciences by Buffon. Linnaeus had done the same for botany. 
Lavoisier had laid the rudiments of the vast structure of the chemical 
sciences. Jenner had invented vaccination. The Montgolfiers had 
made the first balloon. Cook, Bougainville and La Perouse had carried 
on the work of the great navigators of earlier centuries, and had filled 
up most of the blank spaces on the map of the world. In literature it 
was a time of great activity, and the beginning of one of the most glori- 
ous eras in history. 

INDEPENDENCE OF HAYTI. 

The early years of the century saw a general movement among the 
minor states of the Western Hemisphere to throw off the yoke of Euro- 
pean rule. Among the first of these was Hayti, where the negroes were 
under the lead of Toussaint l'Ouverture. This famous man was born a 
slave, and continued so for nearly fifty years. When the insurrection 
broke out he refused to join in it, and assisted in procuring his master a 
passage to the United States. After this he joined the French forces 

5 2 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 53 

and rose by successive steps to the rank of brigadier-general. He 
obtained such influence that all the proceedings of the French commis- 
sioners were directed by him. The Directory at Paris became jealous 
of him, and sent out General Hedouville to observe his conduct and re- 
strain his ambition. Toussaint, however, refused to submit to his man- 
agement. Bonaparte, on becoming first consul, confirmed him as com- 
mander-in-chief, and Toussaint succeeded in freeing the island from the 
English. He introduced order and discipline into the government, and 
under his sway the colony advanced, as if by enchantment, towards its 
ancient splendor. The lands were again put under cultivation ; all the 
people appeared to be happy, and considered Toussaint as their guar- 
dian angel ; both blacks and whites regarded him with esteem and 
confidence. 

The general enthusiasm which he had excited was sufficient to instil 
vanity into the strongest mind, and he had some excuse for saying he was 
the Bonaparte of St. Domingo ! He had in early life stored his 
memory with an incoherent jumble of Latin phrases from the psalter, of 
which he made a whimsical use after his elevation. Sometimes a negro 
or mulatto would apply to be made a magistrate or judge. " Certainly," 
he would reply, "you understand Latin, of course?" " No, General." 
" How ! — wish to be a magistrate and not know Latin ! " And then 
he would pour forth a torrent of Latin jargon, which sent the sable can- 
didate away with the opinion that the general was a most portentous 
scholar. 

SEIZURE OF TOUSSAINT. 

The prosperity of the colony was, unfortunately, of short continu- 
ance, After the peace of Amiens, Bonaparte, urged on by the expelled 
planters and mercantile speculators, determined to recover the colony, 
reinstate the former proprietors and subjugate the emancipated slaves. 
For this purpose he dispatched his brother-in-law, General Le Clerc, 
with a force of 25,000 men. On the appearance of the fleet in the Bay 
of Samana, Toussaint exclaimed, " We shall all perish ; all France is come 
to St. Domingo." The army landed and several desperate battles were 
fought. Le Clerc at last found himself under the necessity of proclaim- 
ing liberty and equality to all the inhabitants, with the reservation, how- 
ever, of the approval of the French government. The negroes, tired of 
the war, deserted their leaders, and a treaty of peace was concluded, by 



54 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

which the sovereignty of France over the island was acknowledged and 
a general amnesty granted. In direct violation of this agreement Tous- 
saint was seized by Le Clerc and carried to France, where he died in 
prison. 

This outrage on the person of their favorite chief exasperated the 
blacks to a high degree. They flew to arms and organized themselves 
under leaders, among whom Dessalines and Christophe soon became 
conspicuous. They spread slaughter and devastation among the 
French, who could offer little resistance against them on account of the 
excessive heat of the summer — 1802. Le Clerc and most of his officers 
were attacked by sickness, and all the reinforcements sent from France 
suffered successively from the pestilence. Yet they continued to practice 
great barbarities towards the unfortunate blacks. In the midst of these 
scenes of horror Le Clerc died, and the command devolved on General 
Rochambeau, who fought several battles with varied success ; but the 
losses sustained in these actions, added to disease, reduced the French 
to the necessity of shutting themselves up in their strongholds, while the 
blacks were daily increasing in number and confidence. By the end of 
the year 1802 no less than 40,000 Frenchmen had perished. 

Dessalines, now commander-in-chief of the negro army, advanced 
to the plain of Cape Francois, to besiege the French in their headquar- 
ters. A bloody battle followed, in which neither could claim the victory. 
The French were said to have tortured their prisoners and then put to 
death 500 of them. Dessalines, hearing of this, caused 500 gibbets to 
be erected, and after selecting all the French officers, made up the num- 
ber out of the other prisoners, and hung them up at break of day in 
sight of the French army. The misery of the French was completed 
by the breaking out of the war with England in 1803. A British squad- 
ron blockaded Cape Francois ; the town was reduced by famine, and 
Rochambeau surrendered at the end of the year. 

BLOODY INDEPENDENCE. 

On the 1 st of January, 1804, the independence of the island was 
formally proclaimed, and it resumed its aboriginal name of Hayti. Jean 
Jacques Dessalines was appointed Governor-General for life. His first 
act was to encourage the return of those blacks who had taken refuge in 
the United States. He next excited the people to a horrible massacre 




1806— FULTON'S FIRST STEAMBOAT ON THE SEINE, PARIS 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 57 

of the whites, which took place on the 28th of April. By a series of 
cruelties and perfidies he got rid of all whom he conceived to be his 
enemies, and on the 8th of October, 1804, procured a Capuchin mission- 
ary to crown him Emperor, by the name of Jacques I. On this occasion 
he signed a constitution declaring the Empire of Hayti to be a free, sov- 
ereign and independent state. It proclaimed the abolition of slavery, 
the equality of rank, the equal operation of the laws, the inviolability of 
property, etc. Under this government the island rapidly advanced to 
prosperity. Dessalines, though a cruel and sanguinary tyrant, was not 
without skill in the art of government. When Emperor, he appointed 
his ancient master to the office of butler to his household, which he said 
was precisely what the old man wished for, as his love for wine made up 
for the abstemiousness of Dessalines, who drank only water. 

KING HENRY. 

Dessalines closed his bloody career on the 17th of October, 1806, 
being assassinated by the mulatto soldiers of Petion. At his death 
Christophe was called to the head of the government, and a constitution 
projected which should guarantee the safety of persons and property. 
A proclamation was issued denouncing the crimes of which Dessalines 
had been guilty, and, among other things, accused him of having robbed 
the public treasury of $20,000 for each of his twenty mistresses. 
Christophe, however, deplored the fate of Dessalines, and affirmed that 
he had been put to death by the mulattoes without inquiry into his con- 
duct. The blacks, always jealous of the mulattoes, attacked Petion, who 
with his adherents escaped into the southern and western districts, where 
a new constitution was prepared, and on the 27th of December, 1806, 
Petion was proclaimed President of the Republic of Hayti. A civil war 
now sprang up between the partisans of the two chiefs, until at length, 
by a sort of tacit agreement, the mulatto President fixed himself in the 
south and west, while Christophe established himself in the north, where, 
on the 2d of June, 181 1, the royal crown was placed on his head and he 
was proclaimed Henry I, King of Hayti. 

King Henry established his court and government in all the pomp 
of a European monarchy. He maintained an army of 25,000 men. 
He created orders of nobility, with princes, dukes, earls, barons and 
chevaliers, knights of the grand cross, etc. He set up a sort of feudal 



58 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

system, partitioning out the vacant lands among his retainers. He 
founded a royal college, established schools, endowed an academy for 
music and painting, built a theatre, patronizd the arts, and encouraged 
magnificence in dress. He was born a slave in the island of St. Chris- 
topher's, from whence he took his original name ; yet his literary ac- 
quirements were respectable, and he spoke French and English well. 
The country prospered under his administration, and for a time he 
ruled in tranquillity. 

PERUVIAN REVOLUTION. 

In Peru the movement against Spain soon began. As early as 1805 
Ubalde, an eminent jurist of Cuzco, excited the alarm of the government 
by his revolutionary designs. He gained a large party of adherents, but 
before their schemes could be put in operation, they were betrayed. 
Ubalde and eight others were put to death at Cuzco, and more than a 
hundred of his party were exiled. The particulars of this plot are not 
distinctly known, but independence was the main object. Ubalde on 
the scaffold predicted that the Spanish dominion in South America would 
soon be overthrown. It was impossible that he could, at this early 
period, have foreseen the occurrences in Spain, which shortly after paved 
the way for the emancipation of the Spanish American colonies ; and 
his dying declaration affords us reason to believe that the project of 
throwing off the yoke of the mother country had been cherished in Peru 
to a greater extent than has generally been imagined. 

BUENOS AYRES. 

The revolution in the countries bordering on the Rio de la Plata 
had its origin in the war between Great Britain and Spain. A British 
fleet and army, under Commodore Popham and General Beresford, 
which had been despatched against the Cape of Good Hope, after effect- 
ing the conquest of that colony, proceeded to Buenos Ayres, in 1806, 
and on the 8th of June arrived in the mouth of the river La Plata. A 
general consternation seized the inhabitants of Buenos Ayres when the 
squadron appeared in sight of that city. Not more than 300 muskets 
could be found for the defence of the place, and these the inhabitants 
had not the skill to use. A show of defence was attempted by the vice- 
roy, but the only military movement was made by a single troop of cav- 
alry, who undertook to harass the British army of 2000 men, on their 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 59 

march to Buenos Ayres. The viceroy, panic-struck, fled for safety to 
Cordova, and the British took possession of Buenos Ayres on the 28th 
of June. 

The Spaniards, when the first moments of panic were over, ap- 
peared to rouse as from a dream or lethargy, and exhibited a degree of 
energy and resolution which astonished their enemies. Inflamed with 
indignation at the unmanly conduct of their leader, and chagrined at see- 
ing foreigners in possession of their capital, they began to meditate 
upon the means ot driving them out of the country. An active and res- 
olute leader was found in Liniers, a French officer in the Spanish service. 
He exerted himself with great industry in the districts north of the river 
in collecting and arming the people. A secret correspondence was set 
on foot between him and certain persons within the city. Arms were 
distributed and secreted in Buenos Ayres, and a regular insurrection or- 
ganized under the guidance of Puyrredon, a magistrate, and a person of 
great talent and address. 

DISASTER TO THE BRITISH. 

Liniers having collected a considerable force at Colonia, opposite the 
city, the British attempted to drive him from this post, but without suc- 
cess, and on the 1st of August Liniers crossed the river with his whole 
army and marched to the attack of the city. 

On the morning of the 12th the combined attack began. The 
British occupied the castle and great square, and planted their cannon 
towards the principal streets which led to those points. The Spaniards 
advanced with their artillery along the avenues, while the roofs of the 
houses were covered with musketeers, who could pour their fire upon all 
below without any hazard to themselves. The attacking columns in the 
streets were repeatedly checked in their advance, but the fire from the 
house-tops made dreadful havoc and threatened the British with utter 
destruction. The British commander had now no choice but to sur- 
render or see his army slaughtered to the last man. A capitulation 
was therefore proposed, and immediately accepted ; the whole army 
surrendered prisoners. 

STORMING BUENOS AYRES. 

The squadron, however, continued in the river, and being shortly 
after reinforced, made an attempt on Monte Video. This proving unsuc- 



60 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

cessful, they took possession of Maldonado, near the mouth of the river, 
where they found a secure port for their shipping. Being strengthened 
by additional reinforcements, the attack on Monte Video was repeated a 
year afterwards, and on the 3d of February, 1807, after a close siege 
and great slaughter, Monte Video fell into the hands of the British. The 
hostile temper of the Spaniards prevented them for some time from 
attempting to regain their lost footing at Buenos Ayres ; but early in the 
summer they received large reinforcements of troops, and on the 25th 
of June an army of 12,000 men, u*~der General Whitelocke, proceeded 
from Monte Video up the river and disembarked about 30 miles from 
Buenos Ayres. They drove a body of Spanish troops before them, and 
on the 30th arrived before the city. 

The British army moved to the attack on the 5th of July. The 
troops marched in separate columns, each having its distinct point to as- 
sail. As the columns entered the city they were greeted with a furious 
and overwhelming fire from the roofs and windows. At every step they 
encountered a fresh storm of shot and missiles. Grapeshot were poured 
upon them from every corner ; musketry, hand-grenades, bricks and stones 
rained from the housetops. Every dwelling was a fortress, and all its 
tenants were indefatigable in its defence. For ten hours the battle raged 
without diminishing the ardor and obstinacy of the combatants on either 
side. Some of the detachments were totally destroyed by the fire of the 
citizens. Others had their retreat cut off, and were forced to surrender 
in the streets. Others took shelter in convents and churches, and after 
terrible slaughter, yielded to overwhelming numbers. Only two of the 
posts assailed by the British remained in their hands at the end of the 
<onflict, and after a loss of 2500 men in killed, wounded and prisoners. 

Notwithstanding the disastrous issue of the attempt, the British 
commander determined to repeat the attack on the following day ; but 
he was deterred by a communication from the Spanish commander, 
Liniers, who proposed to deliver up his prisoners on condition that the 
British should immediately evacuate the country. Extraordinary as this 
proposal may seem, General Whitelocke found himself compelled to 
listen to it. 

MOVING FOR INDEPENDENCE. 

Thus, at the end of the year the British were completely expelled 
from a territory over which they imagined they had established a firm 






STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 6l 

dominion. Liniers became the popular idol, and was appointed Viceroy 
of the province. He appears to have behaved, at first, with prudence 
and moderation, and at the same time with inflexible fidelity to the King 
of Spain. But the most embarrassing troubles soon arose. Napoleon 
seized the throne of Spain, and attempted to possess himself of her 
colonies. Two parties soon sprung up at Buenos Ayres. The more en- 
lightened among the native population, some of whom had long secretly 
cherished the desire of independence, felt a wish to seize this oppor- 
tunity to throw off the Spanish yoke forever. But those of European 
birth, comprising almost all in authority, were interested in the contin- 
uation of the ancient government, and opposed all revolutionary ideas. 
With the mass of the inhabitants any notion of change was too bold, 
Liniers, in his embarrassment, was obliged to temporize, and incurred 
the suspicion of both parties. In July, 1808, a French vessel, with an 
envoy from Napoleon, arrived at Buenos Ayres with dispatches to 
Liniers, informing him of the transfer of the crown of Spain, and calling 
upon the authorities in South America to give their allegiance to the new 
government. Liniers, a Frenchman by birth, was not disinclined to this 
step ; but convened the municipality and the court of audience for con- 
sultation. This meeting were of opinion that the extraordinary occur- 
rences in Spain should be officially announced to the people ; but they 
appear to have been undecided on any step beyond this. Liniers, aware 
of the hostility of the people toward the French, gave, in his proclama- 
tion but an obscure account of the recent occurrences, and exhorted the 
inhabitants, in the name of Napoleon, to remain quiet and use their en- 
deavors to preserve the tranquillity of the country. 

CIVIL DISSENSIONS. 

But factions and dissensions soon began to throw the country into 
confusion. Elio, the Governor of Monte Video, formed a party in oppo- 
sition to Liniers, whom he accused of disloyalty. The European Span- 
iards were more numerous at Monte Video than at Buenos Ayres. 
They united with the officers of the army and navy and created a junta, 
which acknowledged the dependence of the country on the crown of 
Spain. A serious attempt was made by the same class of persons in the 
capital to remove Liniers from the station of Viceroy. They succeeded 
so far as to place him under the necessity of resigning ; but this was no 



62 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

sooner known than the native militia took up arms in his support, re- 
stored him to authority, and banished his enemies to Patagonia. Liniers 
now sent an expedition against Monte Video, where Elio had assumed 
the title of Viceroy ; but while this was in progress Don Josef de 
Goyeneche arrived from Spain for the purpose of mediating between the 
two parties. He had sufficient influence to cause the inhabitants of 
Buenos Ayres to acknowledge the supremacy of Spain,, and proclaim 
Ferdinand VII. Through his exertions the people were induced to rise 
in all parts of the city in January, 1809, and demand the establishment 
of a provisional junta. Liniers, however, maintained his influence with 
the army, and by their help was enabled to defeat this movement. 

SUCCESS OF THE REVOLUTION. 

Liniers did not long enjoy this triumph. In August, 1809, Cisneros, 
a newly-appointed Viceroy, arrived from Spain, and Liniers was deposed 
from office by the junta which he had overthrown a few months pre- 
vious. He was exiled to Cordova ; but the new Viceroy found it more 
easy to remove his predecessor than to establish himself in his place. 
The ebullition of loyalty that had proclaimed Ferdinand was of short 
duration. The Spanish Americans began to feel that they had power in 
their hands ; and their successes in defeating two British armies encour- 
aged them to think they possessed valor also. Notwithstanding the ex- 
ertions that had been made by the court of Spain to prevent the intro- 
duction of books and newspapers into the country, many had been clan- 
destinely imported and eagerly read, and some intelligence was gained 
of the events in progress in other parts ot the world. The natives had 
been forbidden to visit Europe or to send their children thither for in- 
struction ; yet some had evaded this prohibition, and returned with a 
keen sense of the wrongs which their country was suffering under the 
leaden yoke of Spain. Reform, innovation and independence began to 
be spoken of in confidential whispers, and speedily became the topics at 
political meetings. Commotion followed commotion, and in May, 18 10, 
the Viceroy, Cisneros, finding his embarrassments and perplexities 
alarmingly increased by the disasters of the Spaniards in Europe, 
was compelled to announce his inability to manage the government. 
The municipality of the city requested him to call a congress, which he 
proceeded to do. The congress established a provisional junta for the 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 63 

government of the country, and one of its first acts was to depose the 
Viceroy and send him to Spain. The 25th of May, when this govern- 
ment went into action, has ever since been observed as the anniversary 
of Buenos Ayrean independence. 

Monte Video and the interior provinces disapproved of these pro- 
ceedings. Liniers raised an army of 2000 men and began a civil war by 
laying waste the country around Cordova, to check the approach of the 
troops from the capital. General Nieto collected another force in Potosi. 
The junta of Buenos Ayres gave the command of their army to Colonel 
Ocampo, who straightway took the field. On his approach to Cordova 
the troops of Liniers abandoned him, and he was taken prisoner with 
many of his adherents. Liniers, Concha, the Bishop of Cordova, with 
several other persons of distinction, were condemned and executed. 
Thus fell the first leader in this revolution by the hands of the people 
whom he had assisted to tread the first steps in the career of their 
emancipation. The leaders at Buenos Ayres feared his great popu- 
larity, and saw in him a formidable obstacle to their designs. 

OTHER COUNTRIES REVOLT. 

The country was now, in fact, entirely separated from Spain. The 
die was cast, and the leaders of the revolution had no choice but to ad- 
vance or be crushed by a counter-revolution. They boldly asserted that 
the sovereignty of Spain over the colonies had temporarily ceased with 
the captivity of the King, and that each colony had a right to take care 
of itself. The spirit of independence made such rapid progress that in 
the course of the year 18 10 the whole viceroyalty, excepting the province 
of Paraguay and the town of Monte Video, threw off the authority of 
the crown and acknowledged that of the provincial junta. They pro- 
fessed at the same time an intention to return to their allegiance to 
Ferdinand on his restoration to the throne ; but this was an event which 
few expected and fewer still desired. 

The junta, shortly after the commencement of their administration, 
despatched a force under Don A. Jonte to Chili, to revolutionize that 
country. This expedition was crowned with full success ; the royal gov- 
ernment was overthrown, a provincial junta established, and Jonte 
was continued in Chili as charge d'affaires from the government of Buenos 
Ayres. About the same time Ocampo was ordered to march against the 



64 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

royalists, who had collected in considerable strength in Upper Peru, 
Ocampo defeated this force and subjected a great part of the district. 
In the meantime Velasco, the governor af Paraguay, had raised an army 
and menaced Buenos Ayres. Belgrano, at the head of a small body of 
Buenos Ayrean troops, marched against him, and a battle was fought on 
the banks of the Tacuari, where Belgrano was defeated. Subsequently, 
however, Velasco was deposed and a junta was established in Paraguay, 
which formed an alliance with Buenos Ayres. 

COLOMBIAN INDEPENDENCE. 

The movement for independence in the northern part of South 
America began in Venezuela and Colombia in 1805, under the lead of 
General Miranda, who sailed from New York in 1806 with a few hun- 
dred followers and landed in Puerto Cabello. His enterprise was a fail- 
ure, but it opened the way for the later and more successful work of 
Bolivar. The year 1808 also saw the beginning of the revolution in 
Mexico. 

SCIENCE AND LITERATURE. 

The first day of the century, January 1, 1801, was signalized by a 
noteworthy scientific achievement. This was the discovery of the 
asteroid Ceres by the astronomer Piazzi — the first of all the asteroids 
to be discovered. 

In 1802 " The Edinburgh Review," the first of the famous quarterly 
reviews, was founded. Its founders were Francis Jeffrey, Sidney Smith, 
Henry Brougham and Francis Horner, and its publisher was Constable. 
It was a success from the first, and in a few years rose to the foremost 
place in the literary world. 

The deaths of Klopstock, Alfieri and Herder occurred in 1803, and 
the fact indicates the quality of intellect that then prevailed. Klopstock, 
author of "The Messiah," must always be reckoned among the 
greatest of German poets, and Alfieri holds similar rank among Italian 
poets. Herder, the teacher and guide of Goethe, is well entitled to be 
remembered as the founder of modern German literature. In 1804 
Immanuel Kant, one of the greatest philosophers of any age, died. 

AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

In these years American literature may be said to have had its foun- 
dation. Washington Irving began his work in the " Morning Chronicle" 



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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 6j 

in 1802, and in 1808 published his famous " Knickerbocker's History ot 
New York." In 1805 Abiel Holmes, father of Oliver Wendell Holmes, 
published the first two volumes of his monumental work, "American 
Annals." 

At the same time Sir Walter Scott was rising into notice in Great 
Britain. He produced his "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border" in 
1802, his " Lay of the Last Minstrel" in 1805, his " Tales of My Land- 
lord" in 1807, and " Marmion " in 1808. 

Schiller, one of the greatest poets of Germany, died in 1805, hav- 
ing produced his famous drama of "William Tell" in the preceding 
year. The philosopher Hegel ended his Jena lectures in 1806, and in 
1807 published his "Phenomenology of Spirit." 

The general manners and customs of society in these years were 
a curious mixture of ancient and modern. Old things were passing 
away, yet had not entirely vanished, and the fashions of the present 
time were only just beginning to commend themselves to the world. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Madison Becomes President of the United States— Trouble with the In- 
dians — The War of l8l2— American Disasters — Victories at Sea— In- 
vasion of Canada — Battle of Lake Erie — British Success at 
Sea— Chippewa and Lundy's Lane — Lake Champlain — 
Burning of Washington— Talking of Peace — Battle 
of New Orleans — Hartford Convention— The 
Creek War — Close of Mr. Madison's 
Administration. 



IN 1809, Mr. Jefferson, having declined a re-election, was succeeded 
as President of the United States by James Madison, who had held 
the office of Secretary of State in the late administration, and who 
pursued the same general policy. At the commencement of the new 
administration an arrangement was made with Mr. Erskine, the British 
minister, by which the American government was induced to renew the 
trade with England ; but this arrangement was afterwards disavowed on 
the part of Great Britain. The succeeding negotiator, Mr. Jackson, 
having, soon after his arrival, used offensive language, the President de- 
clined having any further correspondence with him. An unhappy ren- 
counter between the American and English ships of war, the "President" 
and the "Little Belt," served to increase the unfriendly sentiments of 
the two countries. 

TROUBLE WITH THE INDIANS. 

The first war of the Administration was, however, not foreign but 
domestic. Ohio had been admitted as a State. Illinois was now 
erected into a territory. And the Indians occupying those regions were 
consequently disturbed, and were, so far as possible, induced to settle in 
Indiana, over which Territory General William Henry Harrison was gov- 
ernor. In September, 1809, General Harrison negotiated a treaty with 
the Miami Indians, by which they sold to the United States a large tract 
of country along the Wabash River. This aroused much dissatisfaction 
among the warlike members of the tribe, with the result that the bulk 

& 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 6Q 

of the tribe was soon persuaded to go upon the warpath. The hostili- 
ties culminated in the battle of Tippecanoe, which was fought on No- 
vember 7, 181 1, the American forces being led by General Harrison in 
person. More than three thousand Indians were engaged, and they 
were completely routed. 

Other incidents of the early part of Mr. Madison's administration 
were the admission of Louisiana as a State, the creation of the Terri- 
tory of Missouri, and a dreadful theatre fire at Richmond, Virginia, in 
which many lives were lost. 

THE WAR OF 1812. 

The prospect of an amicable adjustment of existing difficulties be 
tween the United States and Great Britain continuing to become daily 
more dark and unpromising, Congress met, pursuant to adjournment, 
on the 25th of May, 181 2 ; and on the 1st of June the President sent a 
message to that body, strongly recommending a declaration of war. The 
principal grounds for it, as stated in the message, were the impressment 
of American seamen by the British ; the blockading of the ports by their 
enemies ; the orders in Council ; and a suspicion that the Indians had 
been instigated to acts ol hostility by British agents. 

The bill for declaring war passed the House of Representatives by 
a vote of 79 to 49, and the Senate, by one of 19 to 13 ; and on the 18th 
of June, the day after it passed the Senate, it was signed by the Presi- 
dent. Five days after the declaration of war the British orders in Coun- 
cil were repealed in consequence of the decrees of Berlin and Milan 
having been revoked. 

The minority of Congress opposed the declaration of war on the 
ground of its being, in their view, unnecessary and impolitic ; they main- 
tained, also, that the aggressions of the French had been greater than 
those of the English ; and they entered a solemn protest against the 
measure. A considerable proportion of the people of the United States 
sympathized, in their views, with this minority ; and the war was, conse- 
quently, prosecuted with much less energy and success than it might 
otherwise have been. 

AMERICAN DISASTERS. 

Notwithstanding the length of time during which hostilities had 
been meditated, they were commenced in a very imperfect state of pre- 
paration on the part of the American government ; and in consequence. 



70 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

the operations of the American armies by land during the first year were 
wholly unsuccessful and disastrous. Fort Dearborn, near the site of 
Chicago, and the rising town of Detroit, had speedily to be surrendered 
to British invaders from Canada. On the 12th of July, 181 2, General 
Hull, with an army of upwards of 2000 men, invaded Canada; and, on 
the 1 6th of August, he surrendered, with the whole of his troops, to the 
British. A second attempt to invade the province was made by General 
Van Rensselaer who, with about 1000 men, crossed the Niagara in No- 
vember and attacked the British at Queenstown ; after an obstinate en- 
gagement he was obliged to surrender with his army. In this engage- 
ment the British commander, General Brock, was killed. 

VICTORIES AT SEA. 

While the operations of the troops of the United States in Canada 
were so extremely unfortunate and mortifying, brilliant success attended 
the American flag on the ocean. In August the frigate " Constitution," 
or "Old Ironsides," commanded by Captain Hull, captured the British 
frigate, the " Guerriere." In October, the frigate " United States," com- 
manded by Captain Decatur, took the British frigate, the " Macedonian." 
In November, the British sloop, the "Frolic," was captured by the sloop 
"Wasp," under Captain Jones ; but the " Wasp " was immediately after 
taken by the " Poictiers," a British seventy-four. In December the 
"Constitution," commanded by Captain Bainbridge, captured the British 
frigate, the "Java." In these four engagements the total loss of the 
British in killed and wounded was 423 ; that of the Americans, only 73. 

The operations of the war during 181 3 were productive of alternate 
successes and reverses. In January a detachment of about 800 men 
under General Winchester was surprised and defeated by the British 
and Indians under General Proctor, at Frenchtown, on the river Raisin. 
Those who had not fallen, amounting to about 500, surrendered prison- 
ers, a great part of whom were inhumanly massacred by the Indians. 

INVASION OF CANADA. 

In April a detachment of 1700 American troops, under General 
Pike, after some severe fighting, took possession of York, in Upper 
Canada, and destroyed a large quantity of public stores. By the explo- 
sion of a mine, prepared for the purpose, General Pike, together with 
about 100 Americans, were killed. The British lost about 700 in killed 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 73 

wounded and captured. Colonel Dudley, being detached from Fort 
Meigs with 800 men to attack the enemy's battery, was surrounded 
by a large army of Indians, under Tecumseh, and was defeated, with the 
loss of most of his troops. 

In May an attack was made upon Sackett's Harbor by about iooo 
British troops, under Sir George Prevost, who was repulsed with consid- 
erable loss by the Americans under General Brown. Two days before 
this event Fort George, in Canada, was taken by the Americans under 
General Boyd and Colonel Miller. The British, who were commanded 
by General Vincent, lost nearly 1000 in killed, wounded and captured. 
A few days afterwards Generals Chandler and Windier, who had ad- 
vanced with a considerable force, were surprised in the night, not far 
from the fort, by the British under General Vincent, and were both 
taken prisoners. 

BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE. 

The most brilliant achievement during this year was the defeat of 
the British naval force on Lake Erie in September by Commodore 
Perry. The British fleet consisted of six vessels, having 63 guns ; that 
of the Americans, of nine vessels, with 56 guns. The conflict, which 
lasted three hours, was tremendous ; but the victory was complete. The 
British force being reduced to almost a total wreck fell entirely into the 
hands of the Americans, who were, by this achievement, rendered mas- 
ters of the lake. 

After this victory General Harrison embarked his main army on 
board the American squadron, landed on the Canadian shore, and in 
October, near the Thames, defeated and dispersed the British army 
under General Proctor. In this action the enemy sustained a severe 
loss, and the celebrated Indian chief, Tecumseh, was killed. But the 
Americans were afterwards repulsed at Williamsburg. 

BRITISH SUCCESS AT SEA. 

Great preparations had been made for the conquest of Canada, 
under Generals Wilkinson and Hampton, but nothing of importance was 
effected ; and a disagreement between the two generals prevented that 
concert which was necessary to insure success. The village Newark, 
in Canada, being burnt by the Americans, the British crossed over, and, 
in retaliation, burnt Buffalo, which was then a small town,, and some 

5 



74 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

other villages. During this year, the British, under Admiral Cockburn, 
committed various depredations in the south, and on the shores of the 
Chesapeake ; but they were repulsed at Craney Island, near Norfolk. 

The English were more successful on the ocean during this year 
than during the preceding. The American flag, however, was not, in 
any instance, disgraced ; nor were the American ships and men found 
inferior to those of Britain of equal force. In February, the " Hornet," 
commanded by Captain Lawrence, captured the British sloop the " Pea- 
cock." In June, the "Chesapeake," under Captain Lawrence, was cap- 
tured by the "Shannon," commanded by Captain Broke. In August, 
the "Argus" was captured by the English sloop the "Pelican" ; and in 
September, the British brig the "Boxer" surrendered to the "Enter- 
prise." 

CHIPPEWA AND LUNDY*S LANE. 

The campaign of 1814 was distinguished by more severe fighting in 
Canada than had before occurred. On the second day of July the 
Americans, under General Brown, having taken Fort Erie, proceeded to 
attack the British under General Drummond at Chippewa, where on the 
5th an obstinate engagement took place which terminated in favor of 
the Americans. On the 25th of the month a more sanguinary and 
warmly contested battle was fought at Bridgewater, or Lundy's Lane, by 
the Americans under Generals Brown and Scott, and the British under 
Generals Drummond and Riall. The British were forced to retreat, 
with the loss of about 900 in killed, wounded and taken. The American 
army was also so much weakened that it fell back to Fort Erie, which 
the British afterwards attempted to storm ; but they were repulsed with 
a severe loss. This was the last important operation of the war on 
this frontier. 

LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 

Sir George Prevost, having received large reinforcements from the 
troops which had been employed under the Duke of Wellington, in 
Spain, now advanced with an army of 14,000 men, to carry offensive war 
into the United States ; and his first attempt was on Plattsburg. The 
operations of this army were accompanied by those of the British naval 
force on Lake Champlain, consisting of 95 guns and 1050 men, com- 
manded by Commodore Downie. This force was totally defeated by the 
American fleet having 86 guns and 826 men. under the command of 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 75 

Commodore Macdonough. During the engagement between the fleets 
Sir George Prevost attacked the forts of Plattsburg, but was effectually 
repulsed by the Americans under General Macomb. The loss of British 
in killed, wounded and deserters was estimated at 2500 ; while that of 
the Americans, both on the land and water, was only 231. 

BURNING OF WASHINGTON. 

In August, a British fleet of about 60 sail arrived in the Chesapeake, 
and an army of about 5000 men, under General Ross, landed in the 
Patuxent, about forty miles from the city of Washington. Having easily 
put to flight the American militia under General Winder, of Bladens- 
burg, the enemy entered Washington, burnt the capitol, the President's 
house and other public buildings, and retired without molestation. In 
September, about a fortnight after this transaction, the British army, to 
the number of about 7000, under General Ross and Admiral Cockburn, 
made a similar attempt on Baltimore, but after gaining some advantages, 
they were finally repulsed. In this attempt General Ross was killed. 
During the British attack upon Fort McHenry, at Baltimore, the 
national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner," was written by Francis 
Scott Key. 

On the ocean, the American flag maintained its reputation, and in 
no instance yielded to an inferior or equal force. The American frigate 
the "Essex," however, was captured by the British frigate the " Phcebe " 
and the sloop " Cherub" of a superior force, and the frigate "President" 
by a squadron of the enemy ; but the British vessels of war, the " Eper- 
vier," "Avon," "Reindeer," " Cyane," "Levant" and "Penguin," were 
taken by the Americans. 

TALKING OF PEACE. 

As the war between the United States and Great Britain was a 
branch of the great European quarrel, it naturally fell to the ground 
when that quarrel ceased. The matters in dispute between the two 
countries related to maritime and neutral rights ; but, with regard to 
these subjects, there was no longer any cause of difference, as the world 
was at peace. On the restoration of peace in Europe, both parties 
began to think seriously about ending the war, and the Emperor of 
Russia offered his services as mediator, which were, however, declined 
by the British government, and a direct negotiation at London or Gotten- 



76 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

burg was proposed. In April, 1813, commissioners, on the part of the 
United States, were appointed to meet others from England at Gotten- 
burg ; but the place of meeting was afterwards changed to Ghent, where 
1 treaty was finally signed on the 24th of December, 18 14. 

BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. 

While the negotiation was in progress, a large armament, under the 
command of Sir Edward Packenham, was fitted out by Great Britain for 
an attack on New Orleans, with the intention, apparently, of ending the 
war with some eclat, but the design met with a most signal and fatal 
defeat. The British, after enduring great fatigues and numerous diffi- 
culties, and sustaining some desperate encounters, assaulted the works 
thrown up for the defence of the city, on the 8th of January, 181 5, when 
they were dreadfully cut to pieces and repulsed by the Americans under 
General Jackson. The loss of the enemy in killed, wounded and cap- 
tured amounted to about 2600 ; among the slain were the commander- 
in-chief, General Packenham, and other principal officers. The loss of 
the Americans was only 7 killed and 6 wounded. This was the last 
important operation of the war. 

HARTFORD CONVENTION. 

In 1 8 14, the North-eastern States were in a very exposed condition, 
being destitute of protection from the national troops, and great alarm 
was excited among the people. At this juncture, the legislature of 
Massachusetts proposed a conference, by delegates from the legislatures 
of the New England States and of any of the other States that might 
accede to the measure, in order to devise and recommend to these States 
measures for their security and defence. A convention, composed of 
distinguished men, delegates from the New England States, accord- 
ingly met at Hartford, in Connecticut, on the 15th of December, 
and after a session of three weeks, they published the result of their 
deliberations. 

The commissioners of the convention, who were sent to confer 
with the national government and the treaty of peace with Great 
Britain, arrived at Washington about the same time, so that the 
war and all proceedings relating to its continuance were, at length, 
happily terminated. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 77 

THE CREEK WAR. 

While the war with Great Britain was in progress, in the fall of 
1812, a sanguinary war was waged by the Creeks and Seminoles, 
against the frontier inhabitants of Georgia. At the head of 2500 
volunteers from Tennessee, General Jackson marched into their country, 
and compelled them to desist ; but, soon after his return, their ani- 
mosity burst fortb with increased and fatal violence. Dreading their 
cruelty, some 300 men, women, and children, took refuge in Fort 
Mimms. Here, at noon-day, on the 30th of August, they were sur- 
prised by a party of 600 Indians, who, from the fort, drove the people 
into the houses which it inclosed. To these they set fire. Seventeen 
only of the refugees escaped to carry the horrid tidings to the neigh- 
boring stations. But the whites resolved on vengeance. General 
Jackson, at the head of 3500 militia of Tennessee, again took up his 
march into the southern wilderness. A detachment, under General 
Coffee, encountering at Tallushatchie a body of Indians, a sanguinary 
conflict ensued. The latter fought with desperation, neither giving nor 
receiving quarter, until nearly every warrior had perished. Yet still, the 
spirit of the Creeks remained unsubdued. With no little sagacity and 
skill, they selected and fortified another position on the Tallapoosa, 
called by themselves the Tohopeka, and by whites the Horse-shoe 
Bend. Here nearly a thousand warriors, animated with a fierce and 
determined resolution, were collected. 3000 men, commanded by Gen- 
eral Jackson, marched to attack this post. To prevent escape, a de- 
tachment under General Coffee encircled the Bend. The main body 
advanced to the fortress, and for a few minutes the opposing forces 
were engaged muzzle to muzzle at the portholes ; but at length, the 
troops leaping over the walls, mingled in furious combat with the sav- 
ages. When the Indians, fleeing to the river, beheld the troops on the 
opposite bank, they returned, and fought with increasing fury and 
desperation. 600 warriors were killed ; four only yielded themselves 
prisoners; the remaining 300 escaped. Of the whites, 55 were killed 
and 146 wounded. 

It was deemed probable that further resistance would be made 
by the Indians at a place called the Hickory-ground ; but, on General 
Jackson's arriving thither in April, 1814, the principal chiefs came out 
to meet him, and peace was made. 



78 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 

CLOSE OF MR. MADISON'S ADMINISTRATION. 

The remainder of Mr. Madison's administration was marked by few 
events or measures of national importance. Yet, we may briefly notice 
the conclusion of a treaty, conducted at Algiers, with the dey of Algiers, 
with William Shaler and Commodore Stephen Decatur, on the 30th of 
June, 181 5 — a "convention by which to regulate the commerce between 
the territories of the United States and of His Britannic Majesty," con- 
cluded at London, July 3 — and the incorporation of a national bank, with 
a capital of thirty-five million dollars. Indiana was admitted to the 
Union as a State, and Alabama was erected into a Territory. 

In the fall of 181 2, Mr. Madison was re-elected President for a 
second term, and Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, was elected Vice- 
President. In the fall of 18 16, Mr. Madison made it known that he 
would follow Jefferson's example, and retire from office at the end of 
his second term. Accordingly, James Monroe, of Virginia, was chosen 
President in his place, and Daniel D. Tompkins, of New York, was 
chosen Vice-President. 



CHAPTER V. 



Austria against Napoleon — Napoleon's Divorce and Re-marriage— Welling* 
ton at Torres Vedras— Turn of the Tide in Spain— Quarrel with Russia 
— Marching to Moscow — Borodino — Destruction of Moscow- 
Horrors of the Retreat — Destruction of the Grand Army — 
Lutzen and Leipsic — Invasion of France — Napoleon's 
Return from Elba— Waterloo — Restoration of the 
Bourbons — The Second Peace of Paris. 



A SHORT time before the battle of Corunna, Napoleon received 
dispatches which induced him to return immediately to Paris, 
The Austrian Emperor, humbled but not subdued, and stimulated 
by the warlike spirit of his subjects, once more resolved to try 
the hazards of war, while the best troops of Napoleon were occupied in 
the Spanish Peninsula. On the 8th of April, 1809, large bodies of Aus- 
trian troops crossed the frontiers of Bohemia, of the Tyrol, and of Italy, 
and soon involved in great danger the dispersed divisions of Napoleon's 
army. On the 17th of the same month Napoleon arrived and took the 
command in person. Baffling the Austrian generals by the rapidity of 
his movements, he speedily concentrated his divisions, and in four days 
of combats and manoeuvres, from the 19th to the 2 2d inclusive, he com- 
pleted the ruin of the Austrian army. On the last of these days he de- 
feated the Archduke Charles at Eckmuhl, and compelled him to recross 
the Danube. Rapidly following up his victories, he entered Vienna on 
the 13th of May, and although worsted in the battle of Aspern on the 
2 1 st and 2 2d, on the 5th of July he gained a triumph at Wagram, and 
soon after dictated a peace by which Austria was compelled to surrender 
territory containing 3,500,000 inhabitants. 

During the war with Austria the brave Tyrolese had seized the 
opportunity to raise the standard of revolt ; and it was not until two 
powerful French armies had been sent into their country that they were 
subdued. The British government also sent a fleet and an army of 
40,000 men to make a diversion against Napoleon on the coast of Hol- 
land ; but the expedition proved a failure. 

99 



g Q STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

NAPOLEON'S DIVORCE AND RE-MARRIAGE. 

Near the close of 1809 the announcement was made that Napoleon 
was about to obtain a divorce from the Empress Josephine for the pur- 
pose of allying himself with one of the royal families of Europe. To 
Josephine Napoleon was warmly attached ; but reasons of state policy 
were, in his breast, superior to the dearest affections. His first marriage 
having been annulled by the French Senate, early in 18 10 he received 
the hand of Maria Louisa of Austria, daughter of the Emperor Francis. 
This marriage, which seemed permanently to establish Napoleon's 
power, by uniting the lustre of descent with the grandeur of his throne, 
was one of the principal causes of his final ruin, as it was justly feared 
by the other European powers that, secured by the Austrian alliance, he 
would strive to make himself master of Europe. His conduct towards 
Holland justified this suspicion. Dissatisfied with his brother's govern- 
ment of that country, he soon after, by an imperial decree, incorporated 
Holland with the French Empire. In the same year Bernadotte, one of 
his generals, was advanced to the throne of Sweden. Napoleon con- 
tinued his career of aggrandizement in the central parts of Europe, and 
extended the French limits almost to the frontiers of Russia, thereby ex- 
citing the strongest jealousy of the Russian Emperor, who renewed his 
intercourse with the court of London, and began to prepare for that tre> 
mendous conflict with France, which he saw approaching. 

WELLINGTON AT TORRES VEDRAS. 

The war still continued in the Spanish Peninsula. Sir Arthur 
Wellesley, who had recently been created Lord Wellington, had the 
chief command of the English, Spanish and Portuguese forces. On the 
10th of July the Spanish fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo surrendered to Mar- 
shal Massena, but on the 27th of September Massena was defeated in an 
attack upon Wellington on the heights of Busaco. Wellington, still pur- 
suing his plan of defensive operations, then retired to the strongly for- 
tified lines of Torres Vedras, which defended the approaches to Lisbon. 
Massena followed, but in vain endeavored to find a weak spot where he 
could attack with any prospect of success, and after continuing before 
the lines more than a month, he broke up his position on the 14th of 
November, and for the first time since the accession of Napoleon, the 
French eagles commenced a final retreat. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 8 1 

The early part of 1811 witnessed the siege of Badajoz by Marshal 
Soult, and its surrender to the French on the 10th of March ; but this 
was soon followed by the battle of Albuera, in which the united British 
and Spanish forces gained an important victory. Many battles were 
fought during the remainder of the year, but they were attended with no 
important results on either side. 

TURN OF THE TIDE IN SPAIN. 

The year 181 2 opened with the surrender of the important city of 
Valencia to Marshal Suchet on the 9th of January, the last of a long 
series of French triumphs in the peninsula. On the same day Welling- 
ton, in another quarter, laid siege to Ciudad Rodrigo ; and the capture 
of this place by the British arms was soon followed by that of Badajoz. 
Wellington, following up his successes, next defeated Marmont in the 
battle of Salamanca ; the intrusive King Joseph fled from Madrid, and 
on the next day the capital of Spain was in the possession of the British 
army. The concentration of the French forces again compelled the cau- 
tious Wellington to retreat to Portugal ; but early in the following year, 
18 1 3, he resumed the offensive, gained the decisive battle of Vittoria, 
and before the close of the campaign, drove the French across the Pyre- 
nees into their own territories. 

QUARREL WITH RUSSIA. 

During these reverses to the French arms, events of greater mag- 
nitude than those of the Peninsular war were occupying the personal at- 
tention of Napoleon. The jealousy of Russia at his repeated encroach- 
ments in Central and Northern Europe has already been mentioned ; 
moreover, the commercial interests of Russia, in common with those of 
the other Northern powers, had been greatly injured by the measures of 
Napoleon for destroying the trade of England : but the French Em- 
peror refused to abandon his favorite policy, and the angry discussions 
between the Cabinets of St. Petersburg and Versailles led to the assem- 
bling of vast armies on both sides, and the commencement of hostilities 
in the early part of the summer of 181 2. Napoleon had driven Sweden 
to enter into an alliance with Russia and England; but he arrayed around 
his standard the immense forces of France, Italy, Germany, the Confedera- 
tion of the Rhine, Poland, and the two monarchies, Prussia and Austria. 



82 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

The "Grand Army" assembled in Poland for the Russian war 
amounted to the immense aggregate of more than 500,000 men, of 
whom 80,000 were cavalry, the whole being supported by 1300 pieces 
of cannon. Nearly 20,000 chariots or carts, of all descriptions, followed 
the army, while the whole number of horses amounted to 187,000. To 
oppose this vast army the Russians had collected at the beginning of the 
contest nearly 300,000 men ; but as the war was carried into the interior 
their forces increased in numbers until the armies on both sides were 
nearly equal. 

MARCHING TO MOSCOW. 

On the 24th of June, 181 2, Napoleon crossed the Niemen at the head 
of the " Grand Army," and entered upon his ever memorable Russian 
campaign. As the enormous superiorty of his forces rendered it hope- 
less tor the Russians to attempt any immediate resistance, they grad- 
ually fell back before the invaders, wasting the country as they re- 
treated. The wisdom of this course soon became apparent. A terri- 
ble tempest soon set in, and the horses in the French army perished 
by thousands from the combined effects of incessant rain and scanty 
forage ; the soldiers sickened in great numbers, and before a single 
shot had been fired 25,000 sick and dying men filled the hospitals ; 
10,000 dead horses strewed the road to Wilna, and 120 pieces of 
cannon were abandoned for want of the means of transport. 

Still Napoleon pressed onward in several divisions, frequently 
skirmishing with the enemy, and driving them before him, until he 
arrived under the fortified walls of Smolensko, where 30,000 Russians 
made a stand to oppose him. A hundred and fifty cannon were brought 
up to batter the walls, but without effect, for the thickness of the ram- 
parts defied the efforts of the artillery. But the French howitzers set 
fire to some houses near the ramparts ; the flames spread with won- 
derful rapidity, and during the night which followed the battle, a lurid 
light from the burning city was cast over the French bivouacs, grouped 
in dense masses for several miles in circumference. At 3 o'clock in 
the morning a solitary French soldier scaled the walls and penetrated 
into the interior; but he found neither inhabitants nor opponents. Deso- 
lation had been completed by the voluntary sacrifice of the inhabitants, 
who had withdrawn with the army, leaving a ruined city, naked walls, and 
the cannon which mounted them, as the only trophy to the conqueror. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 83 

BORODINO. 

The division of the army led by Napoleon followed the Russians on 
the road to Moscow, engaging in frequent but indecisive encounters with 
the rear guard. When the retreating forces had reached the small village 
of Borodino, their commander, General Kutusoff, resolved to risk a battle, 
in the hope of saving Moscow. On the evening of the 6th of Septem- 
ber, the two vast armies took their positions facing each other, — each 
numbering more than 130,000 men — the Russians having 640 pieces of 
cannon, and the French 590. Napoleon sought to stimulate the enthu- 
siasm of his soldiers by recounting to them the glories of Marengo, of 
Jena, and of Austerlitz, while a possession of dignified clergy passed 
through the Russian ranks, bestowing their blessings upon the kneeling 
soldiers, and invoking the aid of the God of battles to drive the invader 
from the land. 

At 6 o'clock on the morning of the 7th, a gun, fired from the 
French lines, announced the commencement of the battle ; the roar of 
more than 1,000 cannon shook the earth ; vast clouds of smoke, shutting 
out the light of the sun, arose in awful sublimity over the scene; and 
260,000 combatants, led on in the gathering gloom by the light of the 
cannon and musketry, engaged in the work of death. The battle raged, 
with desolating fury, until night put an end to its horrors. The 
slaughter was immense. The loss on both sides was nearly equal, 
amounting, in the aggregate, to 90,000 in killed and wounded. The 
Russian position was eventually carried, but neither side gained a 
decisive victory. 

DESTRUCTION OF MOSCOW. 

On the day after the battle, the Russians retired, in perfect order, 
on the great road to Moscow. Preparations were immediately made by 
the inhabitants for abandoning that city, long revered as the cradle of the 
Empire; and when, on the 14th, Napoleon entered it, no deputation of 
citizens awaited him to deprecate his hostility, but the dwellings of 
300,000 persons were as silent as the wilderness. It seemed like a city of 
the dead. Napoleon took up his residence in the Kremlin, the ancient 
palace of the Czars ; but the Russian authorities had determined that 
their beloved city should not afford a shelter to the invaders. At mid- 
night, on the night of the 15th, avast light was seen to illuminate the 
most distant part of the city; fires broke out in all directions, and 



84 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

Moscow soon exhibited a vast ocean of flame agitated by the wind. 
Nine-tenths of the city were consumed, and Napoleon was driven to seek 
a temporary refuge for his army in the country ; but, afterwards, return- 
ing to the Kremlin, which had escaped the ravages of the fire, he re- 
mained there until the 19th of October, when, all his proposals of peace 
being rejected, he was compelled to order a retreat. 

HORRORS OF THE RETREAT. 

The horrors of that retreat, which, during fifty-five days that inter- 
vened until the recrossing of the Niemen, was almost one continued 
battle, exceeded anything before known in the annals of war. The exas- 
perated Russians intercepted the retreating army wherever an oppor- 
tunity offered ; and a cloud of Cossacks, hovering incessantly around 
the wearied columns, gradually wore away their numbers. But the 
severities of the Russian winter, which set in on the 6th of November, 
were far more destructive of life than the sword of the enemy. The 
weather, before mild, suddenly changed to intense cold; the wind howled 
frightfully through the forests, or swept over the plains with resistless 
fury ; and the snow fell in thick and continued showers, soon confound- 
ing all objects, and leaving the army to wander, without landmarks, 
through an icy desert. 

Thousands of the soldiers, falling benumbed with cold, and ex- 
hausted, perished miserably in sight of their companions ; and the route 
of the rear guard of the army was literally choked up by the icy 
mounds of the dead. In their nightly bivouacs, crowds of starving 
men prepared, around their scanty fires, a miserable meal of rye, 
mixed with snow-water and horse flesh ; but numbers never awoke 
from the slumbers that followed ; and the sites of the night fires were 
marked by circles of dead bodies, with their feet still resting on the ex- 
tinguished piles. Clouds of ravens, issuing from the forests, hovered 
over the dying remains of the soldiers ; while troops of famished dogs 
which had followed the army from Moscow, howled in the rear, and often 
fell upon their victims before life was extinct. 

The ambition of Napoleon had led the pride and the chivalry of 
Europe to perish amid the snows of a Russian winter ; and he bitterly 
felt the taunt of the enemy, ''Could the French find no graves in 
their own land?" 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 85 

DESTRUCTION OF THE GRAND ARMY. 

Napoleon had first thought of remaining in winter quarters at 
Smolensko, but the exhausted state of his magazines, and the concentrat- 
ing around him of vast forces of the enemy, which threatened soon to 
overwhelm him, convinced him that a protracted stay was impossible, and 
on the 14th of November the retreat was renewed — Napoleon, in the 
midst of his still faithful guards, leading the advance, and the heroic Ney 
bringing up the rear. But the enemy harassed them at every step. 
During the 16th, 17th and 18th, in the battles of Krasnoi, Napoleon lost 
10,000 killed, 20,000 taken prisoners, and more than a hundred pieces of 
cannon fell into the hands of the enemy. The terrible passage of the 
Beresina, which was purchased by the loss of 16,000 prisoners and 24,000 
killed or drowned in the stream, completed the ruin of the Grand Army. 
All subordination now ceased, and it was with difficulty that Marshal 
Ney could collect 3000 men on foot to form the rear guard and protect 
the helpless multitude from the indefatigable Cossacks, and when at 
length the few remaining fugitives reached the passage of the Niemen 
the rear guard was reduced to 30 men. The veteran marshal, bearing 
a musket and still facing the enemy, was the last of the Grand Army 
who left the Russian territory. Napoleon had already abandoned the 
remnant of his forces, and setting out in a sledge for Paris, he arrived 
there at midnight on the 18th of December, even before the news of his 
terrible reverses had reached the capital. It has been estimated that in 
this famous Russian campaign 125,000 men of the army of Napoleon 
perished in battle; that 132,000 died of fatigue, hunger and cold, and 
that nearly 200,000 were taken prisoners. 

LUTZEN AND LEIPSIC. 

Notwithstanding his terrible reverses in the Russian campaign, 
Napoleon found that he still possessed the confidence of the French 
nation ; he at once obtained from the Senate a new levy of 350,000 men — 
took the most vigorous measures to repair his losses, and having ar- 
ranged his difficulties with the Pope, on the 15 th of April he left Paris for 
the theatre of war. In the meantime Prussia and Sweden had joined the 
alliance against him ; a general insurrection spread over the German 
States ; Austria wavered ; and already the confederates had advanced as 
fa*" as the Elbe. On the 2d of May Napoleon gained the battle of 



g6 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

Lutzen, and a fortnight later that of Bautzen ; but as these were not 
decisive, on the 4th of July an armistice was agreed to, and a congress 
met at Prague to consider terms of peace. 

As Napoleon would listen to nothing calculated to limit his power, 
on the expiration of the armistice, on the 10th of August, war was re- 
newed, when the Austrian Emperor, abandoning the cause of his son-in- 
law, joined the allies. Napoleon at once commenced a series of vigorous 
loperations against his several foes, and with various success fought the 
battles of Culm, Cross Beren, the Katsbach and Dennewitz, in which the 
allies, although not decidedly victorious, were constantly gaining strength. 
In the first battle of Leipsic, fought on the 1 6th of October, the result 
was indecisive, but in the battle of the 1 8th the French were signally de- 
feated, and on the following morning began a retrograde movement to- 
wards the Rhine. Pressed on all sides by the allies, great numbers were 
made prisoners during the retreat ; about 80,000, left to garrison the 
Prussian fortresses, surrendered; the Saxons, Hanoverians and Hol- 
landers threw off the French yoke, and it was at this time that Wellington 
was completing the expulsion of the French from Spain. 

INVASION OF FRANCE. 

The year 1814 opened with the invasion of France, on the eastern 
frontiers, by the Prussian, Russian and Austrian armies ; while Welling- 
ton, having crossed the Pyrenees, laid siege to Bayonne. Bernadotte, 
the old comrade of Napoleon, but now King of Sweden, was marching 
against France at the head of a 100,000 men ; and Murat, King of 
Naples, brother-in-law of the French Emperor, eager to secure his crown, 
entered into a secret treaty with Austria for the expulsion of the French 
from Italy. Never did the military talents of Napoleon shine with greater 
lustre than at this crisis. During two months, with a greatly inferior 
force, he repelled the attacks of his enemies, gained many brilliant vic- 
tories, and electrified all Europe by the rapidity and skill of his move- 
ments. But the odds were too great against him ; the enemy had crossed 
the Rhine, and while, by a bold movement, Napoleon threw himself into 
the rear of the allies, hoping to intimidate them into a retreat, they 
marched upon Paris, which was compelled to capitulate before he could 
come to its relief. Two days later the Emperor was formally deposed 
by the Senate, and on the 6th of April, with a trembling hand, he signed 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 87 

an unconditional abdication of the thrones of France and Italy. By a 
treaty concluded between him and the allies on the nth, Napoleon was 
promised the sovereignty of the island of Elba and a pension of 
,£100,000 per annum. On the 3d of May, Louis XVIII, returning from 
his long exile, re-entered Paris. To conciliate the French people he gave 
them a constitutional charter, and soon after concluded a formal treaty 
with the allies, by which the continental dominions of France were re- 
stricted to what they had been in 1792. 

NAPOLEON'S RETURN FROM ELBA. 

The final settlement of European affairs had been left to a general 
congress of the ministers of the allied powers, which assembled at 
Vienna on the 25th of September ; but while the conferences were still 
pending, the congress was thrown into consternation by the announce- 
ment that Napoleon had left Elba. An extensive conspiracy had been 
formed throughout France for restoring the fallen Emperor, and on the 
1 st of March, 181 5, he landed at Frejus, accompanied by only 1100 men. 
Everywhere the soldiery received him with enthusiasm. Ney, who had 
sworn fidelity to the new government, went over to him at the head of a 
force sent to arrest his progress ; and on the evening of the 20th of 
March he re-entered the French capital, which Louis XVIII had left 
early in the morning. With the exception of Augereau, Marmont, Mac- 
donald and a few others, all the officers, civil and military, embraced his 
cause. At the end of a month his authority was re-established through- 
out all France, and he again found himself at the summit of power by 
one of the most remarkable transitions recorded in history. 

In vain Napoleon now attempted to open negotiations with the 
allied powers, and professed an ardent desire for peace ; the allies de- 
nounced him as the common enemy of Europe, and refused to recognize 
his authority as emperor of the French people. All Europe was now in 
arms against the usurper, and it was estimated that, by the middle of 
summer, 600,000 effective men could be assembled against him on the 
French frontiers. But nothing which genius and activity could accom- 
plish was wanting on the part of Napoleon to meet the coming storm ; 
and in a country that seemed drained of men and money, he was able, 
by the 1st of June, to put on foot an army of 220,000 veterans who had 
served in his former wars. 



88 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

WATERLOO. 

His policy was to attack the allies in detail, before their forces could 
be concentrated, and with this view he hastened across the Belgian 
frontier on the 15th of June with a force numbering, at that point, 
120,000 men. On the 16th he defeated the Prussians, under Blucher, 
at Ligny, but at the same time Ney was defeated by Wellington at 
Quatre Bras. The defeat of the Prussians induced Wellington to fall 
back upon Waterloo, where, at 11 o'clock on the morning of the 18th, 
he was attacked by Napoleon in person, while at the same time large 
bodies of French and Prussians were engaged at Wavre. On the field 
of Waterloo the combat raged during the day with terrific fury — Napo- 
leon in vain hurling column after column upon the British lines, which 
withstood his assaults like a wall of adamant ; and when, at 7 o'clock, 
in the evening be brought up the Imperial Guard for a final effort it was 
driven back in disorder. At the same time Blucher, coming up with the 
Prussians, completed the rout of the French army. The broken host 
fled in all directions, and Napoleon himself, hastening to Paris, was the 
herald of his own defeat. Once more the capital capitulated, and was 
..occupied by foreign troops. Napoleon a second time abdicated the 
throne, and after vainly attempting to escape to America, surrendered 
himself to a British man-of-war. He was banished by the allies to the 
Island of St. Helena, where he died on the 5th of May, 182 1, during one 
of the most violent tempests that had ever raged on the island — fitting 
time for the soul of Napoleon to take its departure. In his last moments 
his thoughts wandered to the scenes of his military glory, and his last 
words were those of command, as he fancied himself at the head of 
his armies. 

RESTORATION OF THE BOURBONS. 

After the capitulation of Paris, the tranquilization of France and the 
future peace and safety of Europe received the first attention of the 
allies. Louis XVIII, following in the rear of their armies, entered the 
capital on the 8th of July, but the French people felt too deeply the 
humiliation of defeat to express any joy at his restoration. The mourn- 
ful tragedy which followed, in the execution of Marshal Ney and 
Labedoyere for high treason in favoring Napoleon's return from Elba, 
after the undoubted protection which had been guaranteed them by the 
capitulation of Paris, was a stain upon the character of the allies ; and 






EL! WHITNEY 



JAMES WATT 

ROBERT STEPHENSON 





LOUIS JACQUES DAGUERRE 
HENRY BESSEMER ALFRED KRUPP 



I8IO— PROMINENT INVENTORS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 9 1 

although Ney's treason was beyond that of any other man, to the end of 
the world his guilt will be forgotten in the broken faith of his enemies 
and the tragic interest and noble heroism of his death. The fate of 
Murat, king of Naples, was equally mournful, but less unjust. On 
Napoleon's landing at Frejus he had made a diversion in his favor by 
breaking his alliance with Austria and commencing the war ; but the 
cowardly Neapolitans were easily overthrown, and Murat was obliged to 
seek refuge in France. At the head of a few followers he afterwards 
made a descent upon the coast of Naples, in the hope of regaining his 
power ; but being seized, he was tried by a military commission, con- 
demned and executed. 

THE SECOND PEACE OF PARIS. 

On the 20th of November, 1815, the second treaty of Paris was 
concluded between France and the allied powers, by which the French 
frontier was narrowed to nearly the state in which it stood in 1 790 ; 
twenty-eight million pounds sterling were to be paid by France for the 
expenses of the war, and a larger sum still for the spoliations which she 
had inflicted on other powers during her revolution, and for five years 
her frontier fortresses were to be placed in the hands of her recent 
enemies ; while the vast treasures ot art which adorned the museums of 
the Louvre — the trophies of a hundred victories — were to be restored to 
the States from which they had been pillaged by the orders of Napoleon. 



CHAPTER VI. 



The War for Independence in South America — Simon Bolivar— Liberator 

and Dictator— La Puerta and San Marco — Republic of Bolivia — 

Revolution of Mexico — Hidalgo — Death of Hidalgo— 

Calleja — Russia and Turkey — Stories of the 

Years — Scientific Progress. 



IN a former chapter we have told of the beginning of the war foi 
independence begun by General Miranda in the northern part of the 
South American Continent. 

The Spanish dominion continued but a few years longer. The 
great revolution burst out in 1810. The captain-general of Caracas was 
deposed on the 19th of April, and a popular congress convened to organ 
ize a new government for Venezuela. The same was done at Bogota 
the capital of New Grenada, which erected itself, at first, into a separate 
republic. The congress of Venezuela published a declaration of inde- 
pendence on the 5th of July, 181 1, and this example was followed by the 
other provinces, which were afterwards united in the republic of 
Colombia. 

The history of this revolution, like that of most others of the 
Spanish American States, is filled with a perplexing and most wearisome 
detail of political changes, party manoeuvres, factions, intrigues, negotia- 
tions, plots and counter-plots, and marches and counter-marches of 
political and military leaders. 

SIMON BOLIVAR. 

The whole control of the revolution soon became engrossed in the 
hands of one individual, who, for many years, became the most promt 
nent and powerful man in South America. This man was Simon Bolivar, 
a native of Caracas, who, as early as 1810, was sent to London as agent 
for the revolutionary government, to solicit aid from the British. That 
government, however, determined to remain neutral. Bolivar returned 
to Venezuela, where he was made colonel in the independent army, and 

92 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 93 

governor of Puerto Cabello. General Miranda had returned to this 
country, and was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces. The 
Spaniards sent armies into the country, and many actions were fought. 
The patriots were generally successful till 1812, when they experienced 
a terrible calamity. On the 26th of March, an earthquake destroyed, 
either entirely or in part, the city of Caracas, killing 20,000 persons. 
This was regarded by the superstitious people as a Divine rebuke to the 
revolution. Meantime the royalist troops were getting possession of 
the whole country. Miranda, in despair, capitulated, and was preparing 
to leave the country, when he was arrested by the patriots as a traitor. 
He was delivered up to the royalist general, Monteverde, and sent to 
Spain, where he died in a dungeon. 

Venezuela was now entirely in the hands of the royalists, and deeds 
of revolting ferocity and plunder reduced the whole country to a fright- 
ful state of misery ; old men, women and children were seized and mas- 
sacred as rebels. One of Monteverde's officers cut off the ears of the 
patriots, and had them stuck in the caps of his soldiers for cockades. In 
this state of things, Bolivar began to show the firmness and energy of 
his character. He raised a small force, and in December, 18 12, entered 
upon a campaign against the royalists. He defeated them at Teneriffe, 
Ocana and Cucuta, and by an expedition to Bogota, increased his army 
to 2000 men. Marching back, along the Andes, he invaded Venezuela, 
and defeated the royalists in several other battles. The war now 
assumed the most bloody character ; the terrible cruelties of Monteverde 
obliged the patriots to commence reprisals, and the most horrible 
butcheries were the consequence. The cause of independence was now 
more prosperous. Bolivar defeated Monteverde at Lostaguanes, and on 
the 4th of August, 1 8 14, he entered the city of Caracas in triumph. The 
joy of the people exceeded all bounds, and this was undoubtedly the 
most brilliant day in Bolivar's whole career. The whole population 
crowded to meet him with acclamations, and he was drawn into the city 
in a triumphal car by twelve beautiful young ladies, of the first families 
in Caracas, while others crowned him with laurels and strewed his way 
with flowers. 

LIBERATOR AND DICTATOR. 

Bolivar was now in the possession of unlimited power in this part 
of the country, and assumed the title of Liberator and Dictator of the 



94 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

western provinces of Venezuela. This gave great offence to the demo- 
cratic party, and charges were uttered against him of studying his own 
aggrandizement ; yet the enthusiasm in his favor confirmed the dictatorial 
power in his hands. In the meantime, the royalists at a distance were 
still deluging the country with blood. Boves and Rosette, two of their 
generals, in a march of 400 miles from the Orinoco to the Ocumare, 
with an army of slaves and vagabonds, murdered every individual who 
refused to join them. General Puy, a negro assassin and a robber in 
the royal interest, having murdered hundreds of the patriot inhabitants 
of Varinas, Bolivar, to deter him from the repetition of such atrocities, 
ordered 800 Spaniards in La Guayra and Caracas to be arrested and 
shot, in February, 18 14. This was retaliated by the royalists, who mas- 
sacred their prisoners in Puerto Cabello. The patriots, however, did 
not repeat these dreadful reprisals, and Bolivar, in July, 181 6, formally 
proclaimed, " No Spaniard shall be put to death except in battle : the 
war of death shall cease." 

LA PUERTA AND SAN MARCO. 

Success continued to fluctuate between the patriots and royalists. 
On the 14th of June, 1814, a battle was fought at La Puerta, in which 
Bolivar was defeated, with a loss of 1500 men. Another action occurred 
on the 17th of August, at San Marco, the estate of Bolivar. Here the 
Liberator's army was surprised by the "infernal division" of Boves, a 
legion of negro cavalry, with black crape on their lances, who rushed 
with hideous shouts from an ambush, and scattered Bolivar's whole force 
by the suddenness and impetuosity of their assault ; the general escaped 
only by the fleetness of his horse. Bolivar's family mansion was burnt 
to the ground, and he was ultimately compelled, in September, to leave 
the royalists in possession of all Venezuela, when thousands of the 
patriots deserted to their ranks. He repaired to New Grenada, where 
the government employed him in their army to subjugate the revolted 
province of Cundinamarca. Bolivar captured the city of Bogota, which 
afterwards became the capital of Colombia. He returned to Venezuela 
in 1 816, but was again defeated. Notwithstanding, he persevered in 'his 
exertions, and in December of the same year, he convened a general 
congress. In March, 181 7, he was enabled to give the royalists a 
severe check. 



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I8ll— COURSE OF THE GREAT COMET NEAR THE RHINE, GERMANY 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 97 

Numerous transactions took place between the patriot and royalist 
forces during this and the following year, but our limits will not admit of 
a detailed account of them ; victory remained nearly balanced between 
the two parties, but the cause of independence was gaining strength. 

REPUBLIC OF BOLIVIA. 

The republic of Bolivia was formed out of the provinces of Upper 
Peru, which under the Spanish dominion were governed as a dependency 
of Buenos Ayres. These provinces were wrested from the Spaniards 
by the victory of Ayacucho, in December, 1828. General Sucre, who, 
at the head of the Colombian forces, gained this victory, soon cleared 
the country of the royalist forces, and no obstacle existed to the forma- 
tion of an independent government. A congress assembled at Chuqui- 
saca, in August, 1825, and lodged the supreme authority provisionally in 
the hands of Sucre, while, as a testimonial of their gratitude to Bolivar, 
they requested him to frame a constitution for them. Bolivar accordingly 
drew up a plan of government, founded on a representative basis but of 
a very complicated and inconvenient character. The chief magistrate is 
a president who appoints his own successor, nominates to all offices, ex- 
ercises the whole patronage of the government, and is irresponsible for 
his actions. This constitution was adopted by the congress, and went 
into operation in December, 1826. 

REVOLUTION OF MEXICO. 

The revolutionary conspiracies in Mexico, which began in 1808, cul- 
minated in the seizure of the Spanish Viceroy by the chief Spaniards, 
and the sending him a prisoner to Spain, while the reins of government 
were assumed by a committee of Spaniards, to save the country from 
falling into the hands of the Creoles and Indians. The Spanish Govern- 
ment sent a new viceroy, who encountered new plots and troubles. 
Finally, in 18 10, an insurrection of natives rose openly against the 
government. 

HIDALGO. 

These men were led by Hidalgo, a priest of some talents, and an 
enthusiast in the cause of independence. From Dolores, where they 
first assembled, they marched upon the wealthy city of Guanaxuato, 
which they took and pillaged. The viceroy dispatched his forces to sup- 



98 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

press the rebellion, but the whole country through which Hidalgo passed, 
took up arms and joined him. Acting with great policy, he abolished 
the tribute paid by the aborigines, which brought all the Indians to his 
standard. Valladolid fell into his hands, and on the 24th of October, 
the priest Hidalgo was proclaimed generalissimo of the Mexican armies. 
On this occasion he threw aside his sacerdotal robes and appeared in 
uniform. He advanced upon the capital, and in three days entered 
Toluco, not more than twelve miles from Mexico. The royal forces were 
scattered throughout the country, and Mexico was in imminent danger. 
After some skirmishes the independent army approached to the heights 
of Santa Fe, where the royalists, with a much inferior force, were drawn 
up to defend the city. Mexico was on the point of seeing a conquering 
army enter her gates, when, to the astonishment of every spectator. 
Hidalgo suddenly wheeled to the right-about, and marched away. This 
extraordinary proceeding was never explained. 

DEATH OF HIDALGO. 

Hidalgo retreated to the neighborhood of Guadalaxara. The roy- 
alists now had leisure to collect a strong force, and pursued him. A 
sanguinary battle was fought on the 17th of January, 181 1, which ended 
in the total defeat and dispersion of the independent army. Hidalgo 
made his escape, but was closely pursued from post to post, till at length 
his retreat was cut off; when, by the treachery of one of his own men, 
he was betrayed and made prisoner with all his staff, on the 21st of 
March. Fifty of his officers were executed on the spot. Hidalgo was 
tried and shot, at Chihuahua, on the 20th of June, 181 1. 

The death of Hidalgo did not stop the progress of the revolution 
in other quarters. In the meantime, the whole country had risen in in- 
surrection, and many leaders began to act separately. The most remark- 
able among them was Morelos, another priest, who, with great activity, 
talents and success, maintained the rebellion in the southern provinces* 
and organized a junta or central government, which, in September, 181 1, 
assembled at Zacaturo, in Mechoacan. This town was soon after cap- 
tured by Calleja, a royalist general, and the junta dispersed. Morelos 
penetrated into the highlands of Tenochtitlan, where he fought many 
battles with Calleja during a period of three months. He took Acapulco, 
Oaxaca, and many other towns, and convened a congress at Apatzinjan. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 99 

in the province of Valladolid. This congress took the name of the 
National Assembly, and declared the independence of Mexico on the 
13th of November, 18 13. A constitution was framed, and proposals for 
a suspension of hostilities were made to the royalists, but without effect. 

CALLEJA. 

Calleja, who was now appointed viceroy, prosecuted the war with 
barbarous cruelty. Morelos involved himself in difficulties by surrender- 
ing his authority to the congress at this critical period. All his military 
plans were defeated by the interference and delays of that body, and he 
no longer met with any success, and in November, 181 5, he was taken 
prisoner, carried to Mexico and shot. 

The war was feebly carried on until the arrival of a new partisan 
from Europe. This was General Mina, nephew of the guerrilla chief, 
so celebrated in the war in Spain. He sailed from England with a small 
force in May, 18 16, and after visiting the United States, where he received 
some reinforcements, he landed at Galveston in November. There he 
organized his forces, proceeded to Soto la Marina, in April, 181 7. and 
took up his march for Mexico. After valiant struggles, however, he was 
totally defeated, taken prisoner, and put to death. Thereafter the revo- 
lution languished, and before long was practically extinguished. 

RUSSIA AND TURKEY. 

The antagonism between Russia and Turkey continued. Russia, 
on one pretext or another, constantly pressed her aggressions against 
the Ottoman Empire, and steadily gained ground. In 18 10 the Russian 
General Kamenskoi conducted a campaign in Bulgaria, and was gen- 
erally successful, though he received a check at Shumla. The next year 
Kutusoff carried on the war against the Turks along the Danube, with 
some success. The war ended in May, 18 12, when the peace of Bucha- 
rest was concluded and the River Pruth was made the boundary between 
the two empires. 

In another part of the Moslem world the year 181 1 was marked by 
a stupendous tragedy. This was the massacre of the Mamelukes, at 
Cairo, by Mehemet Ali. This act was deemed necessary, on account of 
the insubordinate disposition of the Mamelukes. But by it Egypt and 
the Moslem world lost its most effective body of fighting men. 

LofC. 



IOO STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

Russia, in 1814, concluded with Persia a treaty at Tiflis, called the 
Peace of Gulistan, under which Persia was compelled to cede to Russia 
a large region, including Daghestan, Shirvan, Baku, and other territories. 

The year 18 15 saw the Ionian Islands made into a republic under 
the protectorate of Great Britain. At the same time Milosh Obreno 
vitch headed a new insurrection of the Servian people against Turkish 
rule, and thus founded the Obrenovitch dynasty in that country. He 
was chjsen Prince of Servia in 181 7. 

STORIES OF THE YEARS 

We may well review in brief the salient incidents of the time, year 
by year. In 1809 Haydn, one of the greatest of musicians, died. King 
George III. of Great Britain became hopelessly insane in 18 to, and the 
affairs of State had to be entrusted thereafter to a Regency. In the same 
year Bernadotte, who had been one of Bonaparte's marshals, was pro- 
claimed Crown Prince of Sweden, and thus the way was opened for the 
establishment of the present dynasty in that kingdom. The opening of 
the University of Berlin was in the same year an incident of significance 
in the intellectual world. 

The year 1 81 1 saw the British conquest of Java, which island was 
afterwards restored to the Dutch. In this year Niebuhr began the pub- 
lication of his famous historical works. A more sensational literary 
incident was the publication of the first part of Byron's "Childe Harold" 
in 181 2, in which the world perceived the advent of one of the greatest 
poets of all time. American literature was promoted by the foundation 
of "The North American Review." 

SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS 

The year 181 4 was marked in the scientific world by the introduc- 
tion of illuminating gas in the city of London, and by the death of Count 
Rumford, one of the ablest scientists of his day as well as a conspicuous 
statesman. The death of Fichte occurred in the same year ; the suc- 
cessor of Kant and the second of the four great German philosophers. 
In the preceding year, 181 3, the world suffered loss in the death of 
Wieland and Delille, the poets, and of Lagrange, the illustrious geom- 
eter, who formulated the scientific doctrines of planetary orbits. In 
these years the world was making steady and even rapid progress in the 
ways of civilization and of scientific and literary achievement. 



CHAPTER VII. 



James Monroe Becomes President of the United States — Acquisition o! 
Florida — The Monroe Doctrine — Three New States — The Missouri 
Compromise — Treaties and Controversies — Lafayette — 
The Pension System — Revision of the Tariff- 
Re-election of Mr. Monroe. 



M 



R. MADISON, after having filled the office of President eight 
years, was succeeded, in 1817, by James Monroe, who had held 
the office of Secretary of State during most of the time of Mr. 
Madison's administration. In 1821, Mr. Monroe wanted only a 
single vote of a unanimous re-election. 

o 

During Mr. Monroe's administration the United States were at 
peace, with the exception of a war with the Seminole and Creek Indians, 
and the prosperity of the country, which had been interrupted in the war 
with England, was gradually restored. 

Mr. Monroe was the possessor of a sound and discriminating judg- 
ment, and a remarkably calm and quiet temperament. In not a few of 
the qualities of his mind he resembled Washington, and, like that great 
and good man, apparently had the true interests of his country in view 
in the acts and measures of his administration. He may be said to be 
fortunate in respect to the time and circumstances of his accession to 
the presidency. A war, of whose justice and expediency a respectable 
portion of the country had strong doubts — and as to which, therefore, 
loud and even angry debate had existed, both in Congress and through 
out the country — that war had terminated, and the asperities growing 
out of different views entertained of it were fast subsiding. Commerce, 
too, was beginning to revive, and the manufacturers were hoping for 
more auspicious days. In every department of industry there was the 
commencement of activity ; and, although the country had suffered too 
long and too seriously to regain at once her former prosperity, hopes 
of better times were indulged, and great confidence was reposed in the 
wise and prudent counsels of the new President 

SO* 



[02 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

It was during his administration that, after various minor changes 
Df pattern, the United States flag was finally adopted in its present 
form, and the foundation of the present Capitol building was laid at 
Washington. 

ACQUISITION OF FLORIDA. 

The first important incident of President Monroe's administration 
was another of those Indian wars which were so numerous in the early 
history of this country. At that time Florida still belonged to Spain, 
and was largely occupied by the Seminole Indians. The Seminoles were 
a warlike and powerful tribe, possessing not only horses and cattle, but 
also many human slaves. They were much given to raiding adjoining 
territories, especially the country of the Creek Indians in Georgia. To 
put a stop to this, General Jackson, the hero of the battle of New 
Orleans, went against them with an army of 4000 men, many of whom 
were Creeks. He not only drove the Seminoles out of Georgia, but 
followed them into the Spanish territory of Florida, and there captured 
several Spanish forts behind which they had taken refuge. This invasion 
of a Spanish province, at a time when the United States was at peace 
with Spain, was bitterly resented by the Spanish government. Owing, 
however, to troubles at home caused by the Napoleonic wars, Spain did 
not see fit to resort to extreme measures, but presently concluded a 
treaty with the United States by which she agreed to sell to this country 
the whole territory of Florida for the sum of $5,000,000. This was done 
in 18 1 9. The territory of Florida itself was well worth the money. But, 
in addition, the United States acquired under the same treaty all of 
Spain's rights and title to all the country west of the Louisiana purchase, 
including California and Oregon. 

THE MONROE DOCTRINE. 

The incident of President Monroe's administration which makes the 
greatest mark in history, and by which Mr. Monroe himself is best 
remembered, was the enunciation of what is known as the " Monroe 
Doctrine." At that time, as is related elsewhere in this volume, the 
chief continental powers of Europe, under the lead of Russia, formed 
a so-called Holy Alliance, the object of which was to maintain and 
extend monarchical institutions throughout the world, and to repress, 
if not to suppress, civil and religious liberty. Great Britain was strongly 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. IO3 

opposed to this Alliance, realizing its serious menace to progress and 
civilization. The British Foreign Minister of that time, the illustrious 
George Canning, suggested to John Quincy Adams, Mr. Monroe's Sec- 
retary of State, that the objects of the Alliance were inimical to the 
United States, and that some concert of action toward it between Great 
Britain and this country might be desirable. The result was that, in his 
message to Congress in the fall of 1823, President Monroe set forth in 
emphatic language the doctrine which bears his name. This was, in 
brief, an announcement to all the world that, while the United States 
would not interfere with such possessions as the monarchical powers 
of Europe then had upon the American continents, it would not permit 
them to extend those possessions at the expense and to the oppression 
of the independent republics already existing here ; and he asserted 
that, "as a principle, the American continents are henceforth not to be 
considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power." 
At this time the various States of South and Central America had practi- 
cally won their independence from Spain, and the Monroe Doctrine was 
therefore practically an act of protection extended over them to prevent 
the reconquest of them that was threatened by the Holy Alliance. Since 
that date the Monroe Doctrine has formed an integral part of the foreign 
policy of the United States, and has been respected by the world. 

THREE NEW STATES. 

The acquisition of Florida greatly promoted colonization and general 
development of the region bordering upon the Gulf of Mexico. The 
region now forming the States of Mississippi and Alabama had been 
known as the Mississippi Territory. It was now divided into two Ter- 
ritories, known as Mississippi and Alabama. The former was admitted 
into the Union as a State in 18 17 and the latter in 1819. These were 
both slave States. At a date between the two, in 1818, Illinois was 
admitted into the Union as a free State. Arkansas was erected into a 
Territory. 

THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 

At about this time the great controversy over slavery began. It 
had its origin in the request of the people of Maine and Missouri to 
have those Territories erected into States. Maine had hitherto belonged 
to Massachusetts, but the people desired to be set off from that State, 



104 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

and remained an independent member of the Union. They meant, of 
course, that it should be a free State, and they inserted in the constitu- 
tion which they adopted a clause forever forbidding slavery. To admit 
Maine as a State would therefore increase the power of the free States 
in Congress, and this was objected to by the slave States of the South. 
Then there came a request from the people of Missouri for the admis- 
sion of that Territory as a State. They were willing, and, in fact, 
desirous, that it should be a slave State. After a long controversy in 
Congress the matter was finally settled by the adoption of what has ever 
since been known as the Missouri Compromise. This became law in 
1820. Under it slavery was permitted to exist in Missouri and in all 
Territories south of the line of 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude, 
but all territory north of that line was forever to be kept free from 
slavery. Under this agreement Maine was admitted as a State in 1820, 
and Missouri was similarly admitted in 1821. 

TREATIES AND CONTROVERSIES. 

During Mr. Monroe's administration a new treaty was concluded 
with Great Britain, and another treaty was made with Russia. At the 
same time there arose the beginning of what was destined to be a for- 
midable controversy over the ownership of the Oregon Territory, and 
the way was opened for the famous war-cry of " Fifty-four Forty or 
Fight ! " of which we shall hear more in a later chapter. 

LAFAYETTE. 

The year 1824 was made memorable by the visit to this country of 
the Marquis de Lafayette. This was an incident of great interest to 
the whole nation. As the friend, benefactor and ally of the Americans 
during the Revolution, he was remembered with lively gratitude after 
his return to his native land, and his subsequent history had been traced 
by many among us with deep concern, as well as admiration. Nearly 
half a century had elapsed, since he came as a youthful, devoted adven- 
turer to our shores, in the cause of freedom, and age was now stealing 
over him, with its usual effects on the human frame. Before the close of 
life, he wished once more to revisit the scenes of his early conflicts ; and, 
having intimated his intention of coming to this country, the people were 
prepared to give him a welcome and enthusiastic reception. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. IO7 

He landed at New York, on the 16th of August, accompanied by 
his son, and M. L. Vasseur, his secretary. His entrance into the city 
was more than a Roman triumphal procession. Splendid as it was, it 
was more remarkable as the tribute of the concentrated heart of 
America, in its great commercial capital. He was met by one universal 
burst of grateful enthusiasm. 

In the course of about a year, he visited each of the twenty-four 
States, and most of the principal cities of the land, and was everywhere 
received with the like spirit of enthusiasm and gratitude. 

He was present on the occasion of laying the corner-stone of the 
Bunker Hill monument, and assisted, as was most befitting he should, in 
laying its corner-stone. His presence added greatly to the interest of 
the occasion, and long will it be remembered with what enthusiasm his 
presence was greeted. 

THE PENSION SYSTEM. 

In 1 818, a law was passed by Congress, granting pensions to the 
surviving officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary War, which included 
all who had served nine months in the Continental Army at any period 
of the war, provided it was at one term of enlistment. Another act of 
Congress, following at the expiration of two years, modified, and, in 
some degree, restricted this law, by confining the pension to those who 
were in destitute circumstances. Still, under this condition, the number 
who received the bounty, or, rather, the justice of their country, was 
very large, not less than 13,000 having experienced the grateful relief. 
Through the inability of the government, soon after the war, these 
soldiers who had so largely contributed to the liberties of their country 
had never been duly compensated. They now received a welcome, 
though late, remuneration. 

REVISION OF THE TARIFF 

A law was passed by Congress, on the subject of the tariff, in May, 
1824, embracing the revision and alteration of the tariff which had here- 
tofore existed. Except a slight protection to coarse cotton cloths, noth- 
ing had been done to encourage the manufactures of the country. The 
attention of the people had been, for a long time, turned towards the 
subject, and Congress had debated it at different periods, but very little 
had been effected. Such was the state of things from 181 6 to 1824. 



108 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

On the part of many citizens, great zeal had been manifested in favor of 
manufactures among us. Numbers, especially in the Northern and 
Eastern States, owing to the impediments which existed in the prosecu- 
tion of commerce and navigation, by the restrictive measures of the 
government, as well as by the war, had engaged in the business of 
manufacturing. By their energy, perseverance, and economy, they had 
attained to a measure of success ; but still, some public enactments were 
wanting to give due encouragement to the general interests of manu- 
factures. 

RE-ELECTION OF MR. MONROE. 

In March, 1821, Mr. Monroe entered upon his second term of 
office, having been re-elected President by nearly a unanimous vote. 
Mr. Tompkins was also continued in the Vice-Presidency. In fact, only 
one electoral vote was cast against Mr. Monroe, and that was cast by a 
New Hampshire elector, for John Quincy Adams. The elector ex- 
plained that he really favored Mr. Monroe's re-election, but did not think 
it fitting that any man, save only Washington, should have a unanimous 
vote. It being understood that, according to the example of his pre- 
decessors, Mr. Monroe would retire at the expiration of his second term, 
the subject of his successor was early introduced to the nation. Severa' 
candidates were put in nomination, and the claims of each were duiv 
urged by their respective friends and supporters. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Treaty of Paris— Reaction in Europe— The Manchester Meeting— The 
Barbary Pirates— Disquiet in France— Rebellion in Spain— Revolu- 
tion in Portugal— Naples and Sicily— Revolution in Piedmont 
—Congress at Carlsbad— The Greek Revolution— Inde- 
pendence Proclaimed —Turkish Atrocities — The 
Greek Constitution — The Destruction of Scio 
— Marco Bozzaris — Byron at Misso- 
longhi— The Egyptian Fleet at 
Navarino. 



ON the day of the signing of the treaty of Paris, another was 
concluded between Russia, Prussia, Austria and England, de- 
signed as a measure of security for the allied powers, and 
declaring that Napoleon Bonaparte and his family should be 
forever excluded from the throne of France. On the same day a third 
treaty, of notorious celebrity, called "The Holy Alliance," was sub- 
scribed by the Emperors of Russia and Austria, and the King of Prussia, 
who bound themselves, "in conformity with the principles of Holy 
Scripture, to lend each other aid, assistance and succor, on every occa- 
sion." This treaty was, ere long, acceded to by nearly all the Conti- 
nental powers as parties to the compact, although the ruling Prince of 
England declined signing it, on the ground that the English Constitution 
prevented him from becoming a party to any convention that was not 
countersigned by a responsible Minister. 

REACTION IN EUROPE. 

The terms of the Holy Alliance were drawn by the young Russian 
Emperor, Alexander, whose enthusiastic benevolence prompted him to 
devise a plan of a common international law that should substitute the 
peaceful reign of the Gospel in place of the rude empire of the sword. 
But the law of the Holy Alliance, although beneficent in its origin, was tc 

109 



IIO STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

be interrupted by absolute monarchs ; as it was evident that its only 
active principle would be the maintenance of despotic power, under the 
mask of piety and religion, it was justly regarded with dread and jealousy 
by the Liberal party throughout Europe, and was, in reality, made a con- 
venient pretext for enforcing the doctrine of passive obedience and re- 
sisting all efforts for the establishment of constitutional freedom. 

The English Government, wiser than the Continental powers, has 
ever had the prudence to make reasonable concessions to reasonable 
popular demands, before the spark of discontent has been blown into 
the blaze of revolution ; and now, after a spirited contest, a heavy 
property tax, that had been patiently submitted to as a necessary war 
measure, was repealed amid the universal transports of the people ; the 
remission of other taxes followed, and in one year a reduction of 
^"35,000,000 sterling was made from the national expenditure, although 
strongly opposed by the Ministry. Still the distress continued ; the 
popular feeling against the Government increased ; numerous secret 
political societies were organized among the dissatisfied ; and early in 
the following year (181 7) a committee of Parliament reported that an 
extensive conspiracy existed, chiefly in the great towns and manufactur- 
ing districts, for the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment 
of a republic in its stead. 

THE MANCHESTER MEETING. 

In consequence of the information, greatly exaggerated, which had 
been communicated to the committee, Ministers were enabled to carry 
through Parliament bills for suspending the privileges of the writ of 
habeas corpus, and for suppressing tumultuous meetings, debating 
societies and all unlawful organizations. Armed with extensive powers, 
the Government took the most active measures for putting a stop to the 
threatened insurrection ; a few mobs were suppressed ; many persons 
were arrested on the charge of high treason ; and several were convicted 
and suffered death. In 18 19 a large and peaceable meeting at Man- 
chester, assembled to discuss the question of parliamentary reforms, was 
charged by the military, and many lives inhumanly sacrificed ; but all 
attempts in Parliament for an inquiry into the conduct of the Manchester 
magistrates, under whose orders the military had acted, were defeated. 
Although the people still justly complained of grievous burdens of tax- 




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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



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ation and unequal representation in Parliament, those evils were not so 
oppressive as to induce them to incur the hazards of revolution ; and the 
Government, having yielded to the point where danger was past, was 
sufficiently strong to carry all its important measures. 

The illustrious George Canning now came to the fore in English 
politics, and while he lived exerted a salutary influence upon them in the 
direction of progress, freedom and human rights the world over. 

Early in 1820 King George III, o\ England, died after one of the 
longest and most eventful reigns on record, and was succeeded by his 
son, George IV. 

THE BARBARY PIRATES. 

An event of general interest that occurred soon after the close of 
the European war was the merited chastisement of the piratical State of 
Algiers. During a long period the Barbary powers had carried on 
piratical warfare against those nations that were not sufficiently powerful 
to prevent or punish their depredations. From the year 1795 to 181 2 
the United States of America had preserved peace with Algiers by the 
payment of an annual tribute ; but in the latter year the Dey, believing 
that the war with England would prevent their commerce in the Medi- 
terranean, commenced a piratical warfare against all American vessels 
that fell in the way of his cruisers. In the month of June, 181 5, an 
American squadron, under the command of Commodore Decatur, being 
sent to the Mediterranean, after capturing several Algerian vessels, com- 
pelled Algiers, Tripoli and Tunis to release all American prisoners in 
their possession, pay large sums of money, and relinquish all future 
claims to tribute from the United States. 

In the following year the continued piracies of Algerines upon some 
of the smaller European States that claimed the protection of England, 
induced the British Government to send out a powerful squadron, with 
directions to obtain from the Dey unqualified abolition of Christian 
slavery, or, w case of refusal, to destroy, if possible, the nest of pirates 
whose tolerance had so long been a disgrace to Christendom. On the 
27th of August, 1 81 6, the British fleet, commanded by Lord Exmouth, 
appeared before Algiers, whose fortifications, admirably constructed and 
of the hardest stone, were defended by nearly 500 cannons and 40,000 
men. No answer being returned to the demands of the British Govern- 
ment, the attack was commenced in the afternoon of the same day ; and 

7 



114 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

although the defence was most spirited, by ten in the evening all the 
fortifications that defended the approaches by sea were totally ruined, 
while the shot and shells had carried destruction and death throughout 
the city. On the following morning the Dey submitted, agreeing to 
abolish Christian slavery forever, and immediately restoring 1 200 captives 
to their country and friends. The total number liberated by Algiers, 
Tripoli and Tunis was more than 3000. 

The humiliation of the piratical Barbary powers by the Americans 
in 18 1 5 and the battle of Algiers in the following year, were events 
highly important to the general interests of humanity, not only from their 
immediate results, but as the beginning of the decisive ascendancy of 
the Christian over the Mohammedan world. 

DISQUIET IN FRANCE. 

The situation of France at the second restoration of Louis XVIII, 
with a vast foreign army quartered upon her people, an empty treasury, 
and an unsettled government, was gloomy in the extreme. With a 
vacillation peculiar to the French people public opinion had already 
turned against the Bonapartes and the Republicans, who were regarded 
as the authors of all the evils which the nation suffered ; and the King 
soon found himself seriously embarrassed by order of his own friends. 

The year 1818 saw the Congress of the great Powers at Aix-la- 
Chapelle and the final withdrawal of the foreign armies from France. In 
the same year Bernadotte, who had been one of Napoleon's marshals, 
became King of Sweden and Norway. The Duke of Berry, second son 
of the future King Charles X, of France, was assassinated in 1820, a 
serious blow to the Bourbon dynasty. 

On the death of Louis XVIII, in 1824, the crown of France fell to 
his brother, Charles X, who commenced his rule by a declaration of his 
intentions of confirming the constitutional charter that had been granted 
the French people at the time of the first restoration. Buf the new King 
bitterly opposed to the principles of the Revolution, and governed by the 
counsels of bigoted priests, labored to build up an absolute Monarchy, 
with a privileged nobility and clergy for its support ; while, on the other 
hand, the people, persuaded that a plot was formed to deprive them of 
their constitutional privileges, talked of open resistance to the arbitrary 
commands of the court. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. I 1 5 

REBELLION IN SPAIN. 

During the period of general peace, from 1S15 to 1820, Spain, under 
the rule of the restored Ferdinand, was in a state of constant political 
agitation ; and in 1820 an insurrection of the soldiery compelled the King 
to restore to his subjects the free and almost republican constitution of 
181 2. The Republicans, however, who thus obtained the direction of 
the Government, showed little wisdom or moderation ; and a large party, 
directed by the monks and friars, and supported by the lower ranks of 
the populace, was formed for the restoration of the monarchy. Several 
of the European powers, in a congress held at Verona, adopted a reso- 
lution to support the authority of the King in opposition to the constitu- 
tion which he had granted ; but England stood aloof, and to France was 
entrusted the execution of the odious measure of suppressing democratic 
principles in Spain. 

Accordingly, early in the year 1823, a French army of a 100,000 men, 
under the command of the Duke d'Angouleme, entered Spain ; the 
patriots made a feeble resistance, and the King was soon restored to 
absolute authority on the ruins of the constitution. The remainder of 
the reign of Ferdinand, who died in 1833, was characterized by the com- 
plete suppression of all liberal principles in politics and religion, and the 
revival of the ancient abuses which had so long disgraced the Spanish 
monarchy. England and the United States severely censured the inter- 
ference of France in the domestic affairs of the Spanish nation, showed 
their sympathy with the cause of the oppressed by recognizing, at as 
early a period as possible, the independence of the Spanish South 
American Republics, which had recently renounced their allegiance to 
Spain. 

REVOLUTION IN PORTUGAL. 

The adjoining kingdom of Portugal was a prey to similar commo- 
tions. The emigration of the King and court to Brazil during the 
Peninsular war, has already been mentioned. The nation being dis- 
satisfied with the continued residence of the court in Brazil, which, in 
fact, made Portugal a dependency of the latter, and desiring some funda- 
mental changes in the form of government, at length, in August, 1820, a 
revolution broke out, and a free constitution was soon after established, 
having for its basis the abolition of privileges, the legal equality of all 
classes, the freedom of the press, and the formation of a representative 



Il6 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

body in the national legislature. The constitution, being violently 
opposed by the clergy and privileged classes, who formed what was 
called the Apostolical party, at the head of whom was Dom Miguel, the 
King's younger son, was suppressed in 1823, and a state of monarchy 
continued until the death of the King in 1826, when the crown fell to 
Dom Pedro, Emperor of Brazil. 

Dom Pedro, however, resigned his right in favor of his infant daugh- 
ter, Donna Maria, at the same time granting to Portugal a constitutional 
charter, and appointing his brother, Dom Miguel, Regent. Although 
the latter took an oath of fidelity to the charter, he soon began openly to 
aspire to the throne, and by means of an artful priesthood, caused him- 
self, in 1829, to be proclaimed Sovereign of Portugal, while the charter 
was denounced as inconsistent with the purity of the Roman faith. The 
friends of the charter, aided by Dom Pedro, who repaired to Europe to 
assert the rights of his daughter, organized a resistance, and after a san- 
guinary struggle, during which they were once driven into exile, they 
obtained the promise of support from France, Spain and England, who, 
in 1834, entered into a convention to expel the younger brother from the 
Portuguese territories. Soon after Dom Miguel gave up his pretensions, 
and the young Queen was placed upon the throne. 

NAPLES AND SICILY. 

The kingdom of Naples, embracing Sicily and southern Italy, nearly- 
identical with the Magna Grsecia of antiquity, had been erected into an 
independent monarchy in 1734, under the Infanta Don Carlos, of Spain, 
who took the name of Charles III. It continued under a succession of 
tyrannical and imbecile rulers of the Bourbon dynasty till 1798. The 
Italian portion of the kingdom was then overrun by the French, who held 
it from 1803 to 181 5, when it reverted to its former sovereign, Ferdinand, 
who, during the French rule, had maintained his court in the Sicilian part 
of the kingdom. 

Under the rule of Ferdinand popular education was wholly 
neglected, the roads, bridges and other public works which the French 
had either planned or executed were left unfinished or fell into decay, 
and yet the people were oppressively taxed, and a representative gov- 
ernment was denied them. At length, on the 2d of July, 1820, the 
growing discontents of the people broke out in open insurrection, and 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 1 1 7 

a remonstrance was sent to the Government demanding a representative 
constitution. One based on the Spanish constitution of 181 2 was imme- 
diately granted, and the Neapolitan parliament was opened on the 1st 
of October following ; but, on the same month, a convention of the 
three crowned heads who formed the Holy Alliance, attended by minis- 
ters from most of the other European powers, met at Laybach, and it 
was there resolved by the sovereigns of Russia, Austria and Prussia to 
put down the Neapolitan constitution by force of arms. 

France approved the measure, but the British Cabinet remained 
neutral. The old King Ferdinand, who had been invited to visit the 
sovereigns at Laybach, was easily convinced that his promises had been 
extorted, and therefore were not binding, and Austrian troops imme- 
diately prepared to execute the resolutions of the congress, while the 
aid of a Russian army was promised, if necessary. An Austrian force 
of 43,000 men entered the Neapolitan territory, heralded by a procla- 
mation from Ferdinand, calling his subjects to receive the invaders as 
friends. A few slight skirmishes took place, but the country was 
quickly overrun, foreign troops garrisoned the fortresses, the king's 
promise of complete amnesty was forgotten, and courts-martial and 
execution closed the brief drama of the Neapolitan revolution. 

REVOLUTION IN PIEDMONT. 

Piedmont was the principal province of the Sardinian monarchy, 
and the latter, first recognized as a separate kingdom by the treaty of 
Utrecht in 1 7 1 3, comprised the whole of northern Italy west of the Tes- 
sino, together with the island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean. The 
Piedmontese, never considering themselves properly as Italians, had 
been proud of their annexation to France under the rule of Napoleon, 
and on the restoration of the monarchy they were the first of the Sar- 
dinian people to exhibit the liberal principles of the French Revolu- 
tionists and to complain of the oppressive exactions imposed upon them 
by the Government. 

Scarcely had the Neapolitan revolution been suppressed, when an 
insurrection, beginning with the military, broke out in Piedmont. On 
the 10th of March, 1821, several regiments of troops simultaneously 
mutinied ; and it is believed that the malcontents were secretly favored 
by Charles Albert, a kinsman of the royal family, who afterwards became 



Il8 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

king of Sardinia. The seizure of the citadel of Turin, on the 12th, was 
followed, on the 13th, by the abdication of the king, Victor Emanuel, in 
favor of his absent brother, Charles Felix, and the appointment of Prince 
Albert as regent. While efforts were made to organize a government, 
an Austrian army was assembled in Lombardy to put down the revolu- 
tion ; the new king repudiated the acts of the regent, who threw him- 
self on the Austrians for protection ; on the 8th of April the insurgents 
were overthrown in battle, and on the 10th the combined royal and Aus- 
trian troops were in possession of the whole country. In Piedmont, as 
in Naples, Austrian interference, ever exerted on the side of tyranny, 
suppressed every germ of constitutional freedom. 

CONGRESS AT CARLSBAD. 

The famous Congress of Carlsbad was held in 18 19. This was 
composed of the heads of the various German States. A resolution 
was adopted directed against freedom of the press and against freedom 
of teaching in the universities. It was, in a measure, a counter-move- 
ment against the patriotic associations of students which had been formed 
a few years before. In it, too, were the first beginnings of the German 
Zollverein, or customs union, which afterward played so important a part 
in leading to the organization of the new German Empire. 

THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 

In the year 1481, Greece, the early and favored seat of art, science 
and literature, was conquered by the Turks, after a sanguinary contest 
of more than forty years. The Venetians, however, were not disposed 
to allow its new masters quiet possession of the country, and during the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was the theatre of obstinate wars 
between them and the Turks, which continued till 1718, when the Turks 
were confirmed in their conquest by treaty. Although the Turks and 
Greeks never became one nation, and the relation of conquerors and 
conquered never ceased, yet the Turkish rule was quietly submitted to 
until i82i,when, according to previous arrangements, on the 7th of 
March, Alexander Ypsilanti, a Greek, and then a major-general in the 
Russian army, proclaimed, from Moldavia, the independence of Greece, 
at the same time assurring his countrymen of the aid of Russia in the 
approaching contest. But the Russian emperor declined intervention ; 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. \ \§ 

the Porte took the most rigorous measures against the Greeks, and 
called upon all Mussulmans to arm against the rebels for the protection 
of Islamism ; the wildest fanaticism raged in Constantinople, where 
hundreds of the. resident Greeks were remorselessly murdered, and in 
Moldavia the bloody struggle was terminated with the annihilation of the 
patriot army and the flight of Ypsilanti to Trieste, where the Austrian 
Government seized and imprisoned him. 

INDEPENDENCE PROCLAIMED. 

In southern Greece no cruelties could quench the fire of liberty, and 
sixteen days after the proclamation of Ypsilanti the Revolution of the 
Morea began at Suda, a large village in the northern part of Achaia, 
where eighty Turks were made prisoners. The revolution rapidly 
spread over the Morea and the islands of the yEgean ; the ancient 
names were revived ; and, on the 6th of April, the Messenian Senate, 
assembled at Kalamatia, proclaimed that Greece had shaken off the 
Turkish yoke to save the Christian faith and restore the ancient charac- 
ter of the country. From that time the Greeks found friends wherever 
free principles were cherished ; and from England and the United States 
large contributions of clothing and provisions were forwarded to relieve 
the sufferings inflicted by the wanton atrocities of the Turks. 

TURKISH ATROCITIES. 

During the summer months the Turks committed great depredations 
among the Greek towns on the coast of Asia Minor ; the inhabitants of 
the island of Candia, who had taken no part in the insurrection, were 
disarmed, and the archbishops and many of the priests executed ; in 
Cyprus, where also there had been no appearances of insurrection, the 
Greeks were disarmed, and their archbishop and other prelates mur- 
dered. The most barbarous atrocities were also committed at Rhodes 
and other islands of the Grecian Archipelago, where the villages were 
burned and the country desolated. But when, in August, the Greeks 
captured the strong Turkish fortresses of Monembasia and Navarino, 
and, in October, that of Tripolitza, they took a terrible revenge upon 
their enemies, and in Tripolitza alone 8000 Turks were put to death. 

On the 5th and 6th of September the Greek General Ulysses 
defeated, near the pass of Thermopylae, a laiqre Turkish army which 



120 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

had advanced from Macedonia ; but, on the other hand, the peninsula 
of Cassandra was taken by the Turks, when 3000 Greeks were put to 
the sword ; women and children were carried into slavery, and the 
flourishing peninsula converted into a desert waste. The Athenian 
Acropolis was garrisoned by the Turks, and the inhabitants of Athens 
fled to Salamis for safety ; but in general, throughout all southern 
Greece, the Turks were driven from the country districts and com- 
pelled to shut themselves up in the cities. 

THE GREEK CONSTITUTION 

The year 1822 opened with the assembling of the first Greek Con- 
gress at Epidaurus, and the proclaiming of a provisional constitution on 
the 13th of January. On the 27th of January, 1822, the independence of 
the country was proclaimed, and its code published amid the joyful accla- 
mations of the deputies, the army and the people. The government 
was for the present styled "provincial," while the promulgation of the 
constitution was accompanied with an address, exhibiting the reasons 
for shaking off the Turkish yoke. Five members of the Congress were 
nominated as an executive, and Prince Mavrocordato was appointed 
President. Ministers were appointed for the different departments of 
war, finance, public instruction, the interior, and police ; and a commis- 
sion named of three individuals to superintend the naval affairs. 

The new Government signalized their liberty by a decree for the 
abolition of slavery, as well as the sale of any Turkish prisoners who 
might fall into their hands, prohibiting it under the severest penalties ; 
they also passed another edict for a compensation for military services, 
and a provision for the widows and orphans of those who should fall in 
battle ; and a third, regulating the internal administration of the prov- 
inces. The organization of the army was also commenced ; a corps, 
called the first regiment of the line, was formed and officered from the 
volunteers of the different nations, and as there were more of them than 
were requisite for this service, a second was formed of the remainder, 
which took the name of Philhellenes. Patras was blockaded again by 
3000 men, and a smaller body under the French colonel, Voutier, was 
sent to Athens, to reduce the Acropolis ; the forces before Napoli were 
augmented, and Modon and Coron closely invested by the armed peas- 
antry around. An event, the most terrific and atrocious that history has 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 121 

ever recorded, marked the commencement of the second campaign : the 
destruction of Scio and its miserable inhabitants. The Sciots had taken 
no part in the movement of 182 1. In the beginning of May, in that 
year, a small squadron of Ipsariots appearing off the coast, furnished 
the aga with a pretext for his oppressions, and he began by seizing forty 
of the elders and bishops, who were immured as hostages for the good 
conduct of the people. 

THE DESTRUCTION OF SCIO. 

"On the 23d of April," says Mr. Blaquiere, "a fleet of fifty sail, 
including five of the line, anchored in the bay, and immediately began 
to bombard the town, while several thousand troops were landed under 
the guns of the citadel, which also opened a heavy fire on the Greeks. 
It was in vain for the islanders to make any resistance ; deserted by 
the Samians, most of whom embarked and sailed away when the Turkish 
fleet hove in sight, they were easily overpowered and obliged to fly. 
From this moment until the last direful act, Scio, lately so great an 
object of admiration to strangers, presented one continued scene of 
horror and dismay. Having massacred every soul, whether men, women 
or children, whom they found in the town, the Turks plundered and then 
set fire to it, and watched the flames until not a house was left, except 
those of the foreign consuls. Three days had, however, been suffered 
to pass before the infidels ventured to penetrate into the interior of the 
island, and even then their excesses were confined to the low grounds. 
While some were occupied in plundering the villas of rich merchants, 
and others setting fire to the villages, the air was rent with the mingled 
groans of men, women and children, who were falling under the swords 
and daggers of the infidels. The only exception made during the mas- 
sacre was in favor of young women and boys, who were preserved to be 
afterward sold as slaves. Many of the former, whose husbands had 
been butchered, were running to and fro frantic, with torn garments and 
dishevelled hair, pressing their trembling infants to their breasts, and 
seeking death as a relief from the still greater calamities that awaited 
them. About 40,000 of both sexes had already either fallen victims to 
the sword, or been selected for sale in the bazaars, when it occurred to 
the pacha that no time should be lost in persuading those who had fled to 
the more inaccessible parts of the island, to lay down their arms and sub- 



122 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

mit. It being impossible to effect this by force, they had recourse to a 
favorite expedient with Mussulmans — that of proclaiming an amnesty. 
In order that no doubt should be entertained of their sincerity, the 
foreign consuls, more particularly those of England, France and Austria, 
were called upon to guarantee the promises of the Turks ; they accord- 
ingly went forth and invited the unfortunate peasantry to give up their 
arms and return. Notwithstanding their long experience of Turkish 
perfidy, the solemn pledge given by the consuls at length prevailed, and 
many thousands who might have successfully resisted until succor had 
arrived, were sacrificed ; for no sooner did they descend from the heights 
and give up their arms, than the infidels, totally unmindful of the prof- 
fered pardon, put them to death without mercy. The number of per- 
sons of every age and sex who became the victims of this perfidious act 
was estimated at 7000. After having devoted ten days to the work of 
slaughter, it was natural to suppose that the monsters who directed this 
frightful tragedy would have been in some degree satiated by the blood 
of so many innocent victims ; but it was when the excesses had begun to 
diminish on the part of the soldiery that fresh scenes of horror were ex- 
hibited on board the fleet and in the citadel. In addition to the women 
and children embarked for the purpose of being conveyed to the markets 
of Constantinople and Smyrna, several hundred of the natives were also 
seized, and among these, all the gardeners of the island, who were sup- 
posed to know where the treasures of their employers had been con- 
cealed. There were no less than 500 of the persons thus collected hung 
on board the different ships. With respect to the number who were 
either killed or consigned to slavery during the three weeks that followed 
the arrival of the capitan-pacha, there is no exaggeration in placing the 
former at 25,000 souls. It has been ascertained that above 30,coo 
women and children were condemned to slavery, while the fate of those 
who escaped was scarcely less calamitous. 

MARCO BOZZARIS. 

Marco Bozzaris, who commanded the Greeks at Grionero, fell on 
the Turks, and either killed or captured two-thirds of their number. 
The same brave leader undertook a forced march against Mustapha, 
who had 14,000 men, while he had only 2000. On assigning each man's 
part at midnight on the 19th, his last words were : "If you lose sight of 



STORY OP ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 12$ 

me during the combat, seek me in the pacha's tent." On his arrival at 
the centre, he sounded his bugle, as agreed upon, and the enemy, panic- 
struck, fled in all directions. In the midst of the attack, which was now 
general, he was twice wounded, and at last carried off from the field 
expiring ; the struggle, however, was maintained till daylight, when the 
Greeks were victorious on all points, and the loss of the enemy was not 
less than 3000. 

BYRON AT MISSOLONGHI. 

At the commencement of the year 1824, proclamation was issued 
by the President and Senate of the United States of the Ionian Islands, 
declaring their neutrality, and their firm resolution not to take any part 
in the contest ; also prohibiting any foreigner who should do so from 
residing in the islands. Among the Greeks dissensions still prevailed, 
every faction following its own plans and seeking to advance its own 
influence. Mavrocordato, Colocotroni and Ypsilanti headed different 
factions, among the members of which there was neither unanimity ol 
counsel nor uniformity of action. The Turkish fleet sailed on the 23d 
of April. The Greek Senate summoned Colocotroni to surrender him- 
self and to deliver up Napoli and Tripolizza, but he refused ; the troops 
that were investing Patras quarrelled about the division of some of their 
booty, and were withdrawn ; in the meantime the Turks sailed from 
Lepanto with fourteen ships, and blockaded Missolonghi. In order to 
encourage the Greeks, a loan of about ,£800,000 was contracted for in 
London. About this period Ispara was threatened by the Turkish fleet, 
which was now at Mitylene. The island of Caso was attacked on the 
8th of June by an Egyptian squadron, and, after an obstinate resistance, 
was taken on the 9th. On the 18th of April, this year, Lord Byron died 
at Missolonghi of an inflammatory fever, after having zealously devoted 
himself to the cause of the Greeks from the time he first landed, in 
August, 1823, up to the period of his death. 

THE EGYPTIAN FLEET AT NAVARINO. 

Taking advantage of an insurrection that broke out on the Morea, 
at the head of which were Colocotroni and his sons, the troops of 
Mahomet Ali, pacha of Egypt, were directed to land in great force 
there, and it now became evident that the neighborhood of Navarino 



124 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

was destined to be the seat of war. On the ist of May the Egyptian 
fleet, from sixty-five to seventy sail, left the port of Suda, where it had 
been watched by a Greek squadron under Miaoulis, who now sailed to 
Navarino. On the 8th, Miaoulis' squadron, amounting to twenty-two 
vessels, was near Zante, the Egyptian fleet, forty-six in number, being 
off Sphacteria. In about an hour from 2000 to 3000 troops effected a 
debarkation from the Egyptian fleet on the island. The garrison of 
Old Navarino capitulated on the 10th, and the garrison of Navarino on 
the 23d. After the surrender of Sphacteria, a great part of the Egyp- 
tian fleet was followed by Miaoulis into the harbor of Modon, and more 
than half of it destroyed by fire-ships. In the end of May the Turkish 
admiral left the Dardanelles, and on the ist of June was encountered 
by the Hydriote Sakhturi, who, by means of his fire-ships, destroyed 
three men-of-war and some transports. Soon after the capitan-pacha 
entered Suda, and destroyed the Egyptian fleet from Navarino. The 
Greek fleet was dispersed by a tempest, and, having no fire- ships, they 
retired to Hydra, while the Turkish admiral landed a reinforcement of 
5000 men at Navarino, and went to Missolonghi with seven frigates 
and many smaller vessels. The siege was now vigorously pressed ; the 
lagune was penetrated on the 21st of July, and Anatolica, an island on 
the north, surrendered to the Turks. The supply of water was now cut 
off, batteries had been erected near the main works of the place, the 
ramparts had been injured and part of the ditches filled up ; at length a 
general attack was ordered on the ist of August, and the town assailed 
in four places at once. On the 3d the Greek fleet, consisting of twenty- 
five brigs, attacked and destroyed two small ships-of-war and all the 
boats in the lagune, relieved Missolonghi and obliged the enemy's fleet 
to retire. On the 10th the Greeks attempted, but without success, to 
burn the Turkish fleet in the harbor of Alexandria. On the 20th the 
fleet of the Greeks, about thirty sail, commanded by Miaoulis, engaged 
the Turks between Zante, Cephalonia and Chiarenza, and an action 
ensued, which lasted with little intermission for two days and nights, till 
at length the Greeks were obliged to retire. 

Other incidents of the years under consideration were the death of 
Pope Pius VII and the accession of Pope Leo XII in T823, the outbreak 
of the first British war in Burmah in 1824, and the foundation of the 
British Anti-Slavery Society, by Wilberforce and others, in 1823. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Great Britain and the Indian Empire— The Mahratta War— Obrenovitch, 

Prince of Servia — Revolutions in America — The Triumph of Bolivar— 

The Republic of Colombia— Three Republics Organized— Death 

of Bolivar — Iturbide in Mexico— Treaty of Cordova— Iturbide 

Emperor— Fall of Iturbide— Liberia— " Byron is Dead"— 

Literature and Science — Trumbull's Paintings— 

Steam Navigation — Death of Decatur. 



THE eight years during which James Monroe was President of the 
United States were years of exceptional interest in the general 
affairs of the world. In the preceding chapter we have traced the 
progress of events in the chief States of Europe. It remains to 
chronicle doings in other parts of the world, and those events in all places 
which do not properly come under the head of political and military 
history. 

THE MAHRATTA WAR. 

Great Britain was at this time engaged in extending the borders of 
her Indian Empire. The Marquis of Hastings was Governor General, 
and administered the affairs of the country with aggressive ability. 
Trouble arose with the Pindarees, a tribe of freebooting horsemen. 
These were secretly supported and encouraged in their raids by the 
great Mahratta princes, and their operations kept a large part of India 
in a state of unrest, amounting almost to civil war. Finally, in 1817, the 
British Government made a decided movement against them to suppress 
them. This led to a general war with the Mahratta princes, an episode 
known in history as the first Mahratta war. It was a severe contest, for 
the Mahrattas were one of the most warlike of all the nations of Hindo- 
stan. The result was victory for the British. A part of the Mahratta 
territories were retained by the conquerors, and the remainder restored 
to the native princes. The latter were, however, taken under British 
protection, and thus practically the whole of Hindostan came directly or 
indirectly under the sway of the British Crown. Lord Hastings re- 

125 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

signed his post in 1823, leaving British India in a proud and prosperous 
condition. His successor, Lord Amherst, soon became involved in a war 
with Burmah, in 1824. The conflict lasted two years. A British force 
penetrated almost to Ava, the Burmese capital, and the King was glad 
to purchase peace by ceding to Great Britain the provinces of Assam, 
Aracan and Tenasserim. 

OBRENOVITCH, PRINCE OF SERVIA. 

The affairs of the Turkish Empire in Europe were in a troublous 
condition. In Servia the revolution of Kara George was ended in 1813, 
and an attempt was made to reestablish Turkish rule. A new revolu- 
tion was, however, promptly organized by Milosh Obrenovitch, a swine- 
raiser, and in 18 17 he was formally elected Hereditary Prince of Servia. 
His title was not recognized by Turkey, and years of war followed. In 
time, however, he forced the Sultan to recognize him a Prince and to 
grant to Servia semi-independence. Thus was established the Obreno- 
vitch dynasty, to which the present King of Servia belongs. 

In this same year, 181 7, Bolivar established a Supreme Council in 
Venezuela, and assumed the chief power, practically as Dictator. His 
operations leading to the independence of Venezuela are more fully 
detailed elsewhere in this volume. 

We may also note in passing the great Wartburg Festival of the 
German Students' Patriotic Association, and the formation of the United 
Evangelical Church in Prussia, through a union of the Lutheran and 
Calvinistic Churches; two incidents of 181 7 fraught with much interest 
in the subsequent development of the German nation. 

REVOLUTIONS IN AMERICA. 

The revolutions in Central and South America against Spanish rule 
made steady progress. The year 1818 is reckoned the date of Chilian 
independence, the important battle of Maypu marking the final triumph 
of Chilian arms and the practical liberation of the country. The three 
chief actors in the drama of Chilian liberation were General San Martin, 
the Dictator Bernard O'Higgins, and Admiral Cochrane, the illustrious 
British commander. 

We have elsewhere related that the royal family of Portugal, in 1806, 
sought refuge in Brazil. In 181 7 a revolution broke out in Pernambuco, 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. \2j 

which failed. But the Portuguese King thereupon granted a free constitu- 
tion and returned to Europe. On October 22, 1822, the Prince-regent, 
Dom Pedro, was proclaimed constitutional Emperor of Brazil, and the inde- 
pendence of the country was soon recognized by Portugal. The inde- 
pendence of the United Provinces of La Plata was similarly recognized 
by Portugal in 1821, and thus the Argentine Republic came into exist- 
ence. The independence of Peru was formally proclaimed in 182 1. In 
1824 Bolivia was detached from Peru and formed into a separate State. 

THE TRIUMPH OF BOLIVAR. 

We have hitherto recounted the chief incidents of Bolivar's cam- 
paign in Venezuela and Colombia down to the spring of 181 7. In 1819 
the Congress of Venezuela assembled at Angostura, and Bolivar sur- 
rendered into the hands all the powers he had been exercising as Dic- 
tator. The Congress, however, required him to resume supreme power 
and exercise it until the independence of the country should be fully 
established. He then re-organized his army and set out across the 
Andes to effect a junction with General Santander, who commanded the 
revolutionists in New Grenada. In July, 1819, he reached Tunja, where 
he defeated the Royalist troops and captured the city. On August 7th 
the Spanish army, under the Viceroy, Samano, advanced to meet him at 
Bojaca, where a severe battle was fought, which resulted in the complete 
victory of the revolutionists. The Viceroy fled from the field of battle, 
and the whole Province of New Grenada was conquered by this victory. 
Bolivar entered the capital in triumph, and was appointed President and 
Captain-General of the republic. 

Having amply recruited his army he returned to Venezuela, where, 
on the 17th of December, 18 19, a union between the two republics was 
decreed by the congress through his influence. He then took the field at 
the head of the strongest army that had yet been collected by the 
patriots. The Spaniards, after many defeats, agreed to an armistice of 
six months, in November, 1820. Morillo, their General, returned to 
Spain, leaving his army under the command of La Torre. At the termi- 
nation of the armistice the two armies resumed active operations ; and, 
on the 23d of June, was fought the decisive battle of Carobobo ; the 
Spaniards, under La Torre, were entirely defeated, and their broken and 
scattered forces saved themselves by fleeing to Puerto Cabello. This 



128 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 

victory was the finishing stroke to the war in Venezuela ; by the end of 
the year the Spaniards were driven from every part of Venezuela and 
New Grenada, except Puerto Cabello and Quito. 

THE REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA. 

The two provinces were now united into one State, called the 
Republic of Colombia. The installation of the first general congress 
took place on the 6th of May, 182 1, at Rosario de Cucuta. A Constitu- 
tion was adopted on the 30th of August. Bolivar was appointed Presi- 
dent, and Santander Vice-President. Puerto Cabello surrendered in 
December, 1823, and all the Spanish forces had been expelled from the 
southern part of the republic before this period ; so that, at the beginning 
of 1824, the Republic of Colombia was totally freed from foreign 
enemies. 

But at the moment when affairs seemed most prosperous, the re- 
public began to be disturbed with civil records. General Paez, a mulatto, 
and one of the most distinguished officers of the revolution, had received 
the command of the department of Venezuela. In the execution of a law 
for enrolling the militia of Caracas, he gave so much offence to the in- 
habitants by his arbitrary conduct, that they obtained an impeachment 
against him before the Senate. Being notified of this in April, 1826, and 
summoned to appear and take his trial, he refused to obey, but placed 
himself at the head of his troops, and called around him all the disaffected 
persons in Venezuela, who formed a very strong party. These persons 
objected to the central government ; some of them wishing for a federal 
system like that of the United States, and others desiring a total separa- 
tion from New Grenada. Various disorders broke out in other parts of 
the republic, and a great portion of the country refused obedience to the 
Colombian Constitution. An attempt was made to accommodate matters 
by a convention at Ocana, for amending the constitution, in March, 1828, 
but the violence of parties and the disturbea state of the country pre- 
vented the convention from doing anything, and they soon separated. 

THREE REPUBLICS ORGANIZED. 

Affairs now came to a crisis ; the country was threatened with 
anarchy, and Bolivar took a bold and decisive step, by dissolving the 
Colombian Congress, on the 27th of August, 1828, and assuming absg- 




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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. I3I 

lute authority. This act was preceded by addresses from various muni- 
cipal bodies, calling upon Bolivar to put an end to the public disorders 
by assuming the supreme command. Whether these addresses were 
procured by his intrigues, in order to give a plausible color to his usur- 
pation, we have no means of knowing. He organized a new government 
to suit his own views, and soon began to feel the consequences of the 
bold step he had taken, in the conspiracies that were plotted against him. 
On the 15th of September, 1828, an attempt was made to assassinate him. 
His aid-de-camp was killed, but Bolivar's life was saved by the courage 
of his officers. Generals Padilla and Santander were charged with this 
plot, and condemned to death by a special tribunal. Padilla was exe- 
cuted, but the punishment of Santander was commuted for banishment. 
Various others suffered death. The country was more and more agitated 
by violent factions ; many military leaders aspired to the supreme com- 
mand, and the efforts of Bolivar to prevent dissension excited insurrec- 
tions. Bolivar was denounced as a usurper and a tyrant. Venezuela 
claimed her independence, and Bolivar, finding it impossible to unite the 
factions and create a spirit of harmony under his rule, resigned all his 
authority to the congress at Bogota, in 1830. He retired to Carthagena, 
dispirited and broken down by the calamities of his country. Bolivar's 
retirement from public life removed every obstacle to the division of the 
Republic of Colombia. In 1831 it was formed into three independent 
States — Venezuela, New Grenada and Ecuador — which have continued 
to the present day. 

DEATH OF BOLIVAR. 

On the 17th of December, 1831, Bolivar died at San Pedro, near 
Carthagena, at the age of forty-eight. He was, by far, the most cele- 
brated of all the South American revolutionary leaders ; and during many 
years was considered the "Washington of the South." Yet, notwith- 
standing his brilliant successes, he outlived both his power and his repu- 
tation. At the period of his death he had lost all influence over his 
countrymen, and he died tainted with the suspicion of having engaged 
in an intrigue for introducing foreign aid to restore monarchy in 
Colombia. 

ITURBIDE IN MEXICO. 

The estab^shment of a constitution in Spain in 1820 suddenly 
changed the course of affairs in Mexico. The European Spaniards and 



132 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



the Creoles, who had before made common cause In the royal interest, 
now divided into two parties, royalists and constitutionalists. The Vice- 
roy, Apodaca, was a royalist, and wished to suppress all attempts to 
establish a constitution in Mexico. The cause of the insurgents received 
new strength from the Spanish and Mexican constitutionalists, and the 
insurrection again looked threatening. Apodaca raised a small army 
and despatched it to crush the remnant of the insurgent forces. He 
gave the command to Don Augustin Iturbide, a Creole, but a royalist, 
and an officer who had distinguished himself in the war against the inde- 
pendents. It is supposed that at this moment Iturbide began to enter- 
tain those designs of self-aggrandizement which afterwards led him to the 
throne of Mexico. His very first steps exhibited art and dissimulation. 
The priests and Europeans furnished him with some money, and on his 
march he seized on a convoy of specie belonging to the Manila mer- 
chants. He formed a junction with Guerrero, one of the patriot chiefs, 
and had the address to persuade Apodaca that it was only an act of par- 
don by which the adherents of the revolution would be brought over to 
the royal cause. Emissaries in the meantime were despatched to every 
part of the country, and they executed their mission so ably that the in- 
habitants were everywhere ready to declare in favor of independence. 

On the 24th of February, 1821, at the little town of Iguala, on the 
road from Mexico to Acapulco, Iturbide issued a proclamation, which has 
since been known by the name of the " Plan of Iguala." Its professed 
object was to conciliate all parties ; to establish the independence of 
Mexico, and still to preserve its relationship to Spain. To accomplish 
this, the crown of Mexico was to be offered to the King of Spain ; and 
in case of his refusal to one of his brothers, on condition of his residing 
in the country. Though Iturbide had manifestly exceeded the powers 
which he had received from his superior, yet the Viceroy, thunderstruck 
at this unexpected event, and seeing that the proposal met the wishes of 
a great majority of the people, took no decisive steps against him. The 
royalists, who were numerous in the capital, alarmed at this indecision 
and delay of Apodaca, instantly deposed him, and placed Don Francisco 
Novello, an artillery officer, at the head of affairs. But the disorders in- 
separable from such violent changes gave Iturbide time to augment his 
forces, strengthen his party, and gain all the northern and western prov- 
inces. Before the month of July the whole country acknowledged his 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. I 33 

authority with the exception of the capital, in which Novello had shut 
himself up with all the European troops. 

TREATY OF CORDOVA. 

In this state of things General O'Donoju arrived at Vera Cruz from 
Spain, with the office of constitutional Viceroy. Iturbide hastened to the 
coast, held an interview with the new functionary, and persuaded him to 
accept the plan of Iguala as an armistice and final settlement, with the 
proviso that it should be approved by Spain. This agreement was called 
the Treaty of Cordova, from the town where it was made. It provided 
that commissioners should be sent to Spain with the offer of the crown, 
and that in the interim a governing junta and a regency should be ap- 
pointed ; and that a cortes should be immediately convened to form a 
constitution. The royalists were deeply chagrined at this proceeding, 
and the garrison at Mexico refused to obey O'Donoju, when he ordered 
them to evacuate the city. Iturbide obtained possession of Mexico by 
capitulation, and established a junta and regency, but in such a form that 
all the power remained in his hands. A cortes was summoned, which 
met on the 24th of February, 1822, and soon found themselves divided 
into three parties — the Bourbonists, or friends of the plan of Iguala ; the 
Republicans ; and the partisans of Iturbide, who wished to elevate him 
to the supreme power. Amidst all this dissension Iturbide had little dif- 
ficulty in playing off one party against another in such a manner that no 
effectual opposition could be thrown in the way of his ambitious schemes. 
An accident helped him onward. The royalist garrison of Mexico, 
which had capitulated and were now encamped at Toluca, entered into a 
conspiracy to effect a counter-revolution. Iturbide detected the con- 
spiracy and seized this occasion to withdraw from the capital all the 
troops disaffected to his cause. 

ITURBIDE EMPEROR. 

Meantime his emissaries were at work intriguing in the army, and 
on the evening of the 18th of May they assembled the soldiers, ha- 
rangued them, and distributed money among them. The soldiers 
marched out of their quarters, drew up in front of Iturbide's house, 
where they were joined by a mob of the lowest class of people. At 
10 o'clock in the evening this multitude began their shouts of " Long 



134 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

live Iturbide, Augustin the First Emperor of .Mexico!" These cries, 
with salvos of fire-arms, continued till morning, and the members of the 
cortes unfriendly to Iturbide's ambitious views were advised, from a pre- 
tended regard for their safety, not to attend the meeting that day for fear 
of the soldiery. Forty members absented themselves in consequence, 
and the Cortes having assembled, amidst the shouts of the soldiery and 
the mob, Iturbide was proclaimed Emperor. Most of the provinces sub- 
mitted to this usurpation without delay or complaint. 

Thus, in a short career of little more than two years, an obscure in- 
dividual was enabled to seat himself on a throne. But his downfall was 
as rapid as his rise. Dissensions soon broke out between him and the 
cortes, to which he put an end by dissolving that body on the 30th of 
October, 1822, precisely as Cromwell dismissed the Long Parliament, 
and Bonaparte the Chamber of Deputies. Iturbide, however, possessed 
very little of the genius of these great leaders. He was unable to rec- 
oncile the officers of the army, or the men of influence in the country, to 
these daring measures. He formed a new legislative assembly, com- 
posed of persons favorable to his views, but they had not the skill to 
make his cause popular. Several of the chief officers of the army de- 
clared against him, and prepared for resistance. Iturbide began to be 
terrified at the storm which he saw gathering against him on all sides. 
General Santa Anna, who had assisted in elevating him to the throne, 
took up arms against him. Guadalupe Victoria joined his forces to 
those of Santa Anna. The provinces fell off from the Emperor, and at 
length Iturbide, utterly despairing of his fortunes, convoked the old 
cortes on the 8th of March, 1823, and on the 19th of that month 
abdicated his crown. 

FALL OF ITURBIDE. 

Thus, after a troubled and disastrous reign of ten months, his 
Imperial Majesty of Mexico and Anahuac reluctantly threw down his 
sceptre. He was permitted to leave the country and reside in Italy, 
with a pension of $25,000. His exile, however, did not restore tran- 
quillity to the country. The struggles of opposing factions kept every- 
thing in confusion, and Iturbide, before the end of a year, miscalculat- 
ing his influence over his countrymen, had the presumption to imagine 
that he could re-enact the drama of Napoleon's return from Elba, and 
regain his throne by merely showing himself in Mexico. Accordingly, 





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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 1 37 

embarking with his family and two or three attendants, he landed in 
Mexico on the 12th of July, 1824. On attempting to proceed into the 
interior in disguise, he was discovered and arrested. The Government 
had previously outlawed him, and he was shot by order of the local 
authorities at Padilla, in Tamaulipas, on the 19th of July. 

In the meantime the neighboring States of Central America followed 
the example of the rest of Spanish America, and in 182 1 declared their 
independence. Two years later Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, Nica- 
ragua and Costa Rica formed themselves into the Federal Republic of 
Central America. This organization did not last many years, and the 
five States in time became independent of each other, as at the 
present time. 

LIBERIA. 

The year 1822 saw the creation of a new State among the inde- 
pendent nations of the world. This was Liberia, a negro republic, 
based on the model of the United States. It was organized by the 
American Colonization Society, a society which sought to solve the 
slavery question by returning the negroes to Africa. The site of the 
new State does not seem to have been well chosen, being intensely 
hot and not salubrious. Nevertheless, a considerable colony was planted 
there, and a civil government established. In spite of many drawbacks, 
and the more or less open hostility of some European powers, the 
little State has maintained its independence to the present time, and has 
had on the whole a creditable record. 

In connection with Africa, we may mention the discovery of Lake 
Chad, which was effected in 1823 by the British expedition of Denham 
and Clapperton. 

" BYRON IS DEAD." 

The death of Lord Byron at Missolonghi has already been men- 
tioned in these pages. It occurred on April 19, 1824. It was an irre- 
parable loss to the world's literature, for in that tragedy perished the 
greatest poet since Shakespeare. It is related that on hearing the news 
Alfred Tennyson, already a youth of high promise, went out into the 
fields and wrote upon a large stone the words " Byron is dead !" and 
remained for hours musing over the fact is speechless grief. 

The progress of literature and science in these times was marked 
in 1817 by the publication of Cuvier's "Animal Kingdom," a monu- 



I38 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

mental work which practically marked the foundation of the science of 
comparative anatomy and gave the greatest conceivable impetus to fur- 
ther research and achievement in the domain of natural history. 

In the following year, 18 18, the great University of Bonn, in 
Rhenish Prussia, was founded, an institution soon distinguished by the 
teachings of such scholars as Niebuhr, Schlegel and their compeers, and 
which now ranks among the foremost universities of the world. 

LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 

Sir Walter Scott, whose advent in the domain of poetry has already 
been recorded, published his "Ivanhoe" in 1819, and thus indisputably 
established his title as the greatest romance writer of the age. 

The year 1819 was made memorable in the scientific world by a 
fundamental discovery in electricity. In that year Oersted, a professor 
in the University of Copenhagen, after a long and patient series of 
experiments and investigations, convincingly announced to the world 
his discovery of the unity between electricity and magnetism. 

Between the years 1817 and 1825 the Count de Saint-Simon pub- 
lished the noteworthy series of religious, philosophical and industrial 
treatises which marked him as the founder of the French school of 
Socialism. 

About this time one of the most extraordinary scientific theories 
was put forth and obtained for a time a considerable number of enthu- 
siastic believers. This was the theory of Captain Symmes that the earth 
was hollow and its interior probably inhabited, and that entrance was 
to be had to the interior through a large aperture at the North Pole. 
Serious endeavors were actually made to send a scientific expedition to 
the Arctic regions to ascertain the truth of this theory, but, of course, 
nothing practical ever came of it. 

TRUMBULL'S PAINTINGS. 

American progress in the fine arts was splendidly exemplified 
between 1815 and 1822 by the completion of Trumbull's paintings in 
the dome of the Capitol at Washington. John T. Trumbull, of Con- 
necticut, was a son of the famous Governor Jonathan Trumbull, of that 
State. Having assured his rank among the foremost painters of the 
day, he conceived the splendid project of adorning the dome of the 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 1 39 

Capitol with a series of four colossal illustrations of notable scenes in 
American history. These he completed in a manner that has secured 
for him lasting fame. The four paintings represent, respectively, "The 
Signing of the Declaration of Independence," "The Surrender of 
General Burgoyne," "The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis" and "Wash- 
ington's Resignation of his Commission at Annapolis." 

In these same years the art of lithography, which had been founded 
by Senefelder in 1796, was first practiced with success in the United 
States, and made rapid progress. 

STEAM NAVIGATION. 

We have already spoken of Fulton's invention of the steamboat. 
In the year 18 19 the first steam-propelled vessel crossed the Atlantic 
Ocean. This was the steamer "Savannah," which made the voyage 
from Savannah to Liverpool in twenty-two days, and from Liverpool 
proceeded to Russia. A little later the first steamship line from New 
York to New Orleans was established, and thereafter steam navigation, 
both coastwise and trans-oceanic, was rapidly developed. 

DEATH OF DECATUR. 

A tragic incident of national importance must at this point be 
noted. We have hitherto spoken of the gallant and renowned exploits 
of Commodore Stephen Decatur in the war with the Barbary pirates. 
This distinguished officer, one of the naval heroes of the age, became 
involved in a dispute with his brother officer, Commodore James Barron, 
which, according to the barbarous code of ethics prevailing at that time, 
could be settled only by mortal combat. The two accordingly repaired 
to the famous, or rather infamous, duelling-ground at Bladensburg, in 
the outskirts of the city of Washington, and there, on March 22, 1820, 
fought a duel which resulted in the death of Decatur. This tragedy, 
more, perhaps, than almost anything else, led to the abolition of the 
savage practice of duelling in the United States. 

The death of Napoleon Bonaparte occurred on the island of St. 
Helena in 182 1. In the following year the world suffered the early 
death of Shelley, one of the greatest of English lyric poets ; of Herschel, 
one of the foremost astronomers of his time ; and of Canova, the great 
Italian sculptor. 



CHAPTER X. 



John Quincy Adams becomes President of the United States— Trouble 
with Creek Indians — The Panama Congress— A Notable Anniver- 
sary — Political Movements— Election of General Jackson. 



N 1825, Mr. Monroe was succeeded by John Quincy Adams, who had 
held the office of Secretary of State during Mr. Monroe's administra- 
tion. In the Presidential election of 1824 there were four candidates 
for the Presidency, — John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William 
H. Crawford, and Henry Clay. Of the electoral votes, Jackson received 
99, Adams 84, Crawford 41, and Clay 37. There being no choice by the 
people, the election evolved upon the House of Representatives ; and 
Adams was elected, having received the votes of 13 States, Jackson 7, 
and Crawford 4. 

During Mr. Adams's administration the country was at peace and 
in a highly prosperous condition ; and advantageous treaties of peace 
and commerce were negotiated with various foreign nations. The policy 
of Mr. Monroe's administration was continued and greatly extended, in 
strengthening every arm of the national defence, by erecting light- 
houses, arsenals, fortifications, etc., by increasing the naval establish- 
ment ; and especially by improving the inter-communication between the 
different parts of the country. The famous Bunker Hill monument was 
also begun. In these internal improvements more was effected by the 
aid of the government, during Mr. Adams's administration, than during 
the administrations of all of his predecessors. 

TROUBLE WITH CREEK INDIANS. 

The national government had agreed to extinguish, for the benefit 
of Georgia, the Indian title to the lands held by the Cherokees and 
Creeks in that State. In the last year of Mr. Monroe's administration, 
the Creeks, in a national council, refused to part with their territory. 
After the council broke up, however, a few of the chiefs remained, and 
were induced to make a treaty, ceding the lands to the United States. 

140 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 1 4 1 

This treaty was repudiated by the Creek nation as an act of fraud ; but 
the Governor of Georgia determined to act upon it as valid. 

At this juncture, the Indians appealed for protection to the Presi- 
dent of the United States, who interposed to protect them from gross 
injustice. It was, however, deemed expedient to obtain the lands in 
question by fair purchase. This was subsequently accomplished ; and, 
in a few years, the Indians were removed to Territories west of the 
Mississippi. 

In 1828, a new tariff law was enacted, imposing duties on imports, 
with a view to afford protection to American manufacturers. The prin- 
ciple of a protective tariff has met with a strong opposition, especially in 
the Southern States ; and it has, ever since the passage of this act of 
Congress, unhappily, continued to be a subject of contention between 
opposite political parties. 

THE PANAMA CONGRESS. 

The President, having been invited to send commissioners to the 
Congress of Panama, which had for its object the cementing of the 
friendly relations of all the independent States of America, saw fit to 
accept the invitation. Having nominated Richard C. Anderson and John 
Sergeant, as Ministers on the part of the United States, and William B. 
Rochester, of New York, as Secretary, he presented these names to the 
Senate for confirmation. This step awakened a spirit of animosity 
against the President, and a long and angry debate ensued ; but the 
nominations were eventually confirmed, and the necessary appropriations 
voted. Measures were soon taken to carry this policy into effect, and 
directions were sent to Mr. Anderson, who. was then in Columbia, to 
attend the Congress, which was to be convened in the beginning of 
summer. But he was cut down by a malignant fever before he could 
reach the place. Mr. Sergeant was prevented from going, on account 
of the lateness of the period at which his appointment was made. 

This failure of representation at the Congress, on the part of the 
United States, was, by many, deemed auspicious, as the relations and 
interests of the country might otherwise have been compromitted ; but 
others thought differently, and believed that a conference of the kind 
might issue in the adoption of a friendly and enlightened policy between 
the parties, 



142 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

A NOTABLE ANNIVERSARY. 

In this administration occurred the fiftieth anniversary of the signing 
of the Declaration of Independence. This was a day long to be remem- 
bered in the annals of the nation. The exultation of feeling throughout 
the country, that we had reached in safety the fiftieth anniversary of our 
independence, was great. The day was everywhere celebrated with 
more than the usual demonstrations of joy. But the most striking 
feature of the occasion was the simultaneous deaths of two ex-Presi- 
dents of the United States, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The 
coincidence in their departure from life was certainly remarkable, more 
especially as having occurred at that particular juncture. It would seem 
to have been a providential dispensation, designed to answer some 
important purpose ; perhaps to awaken the great principles of political 
freedom and equal rights, to the maintenance of which the lives of both 
were consecrated. They had both — and equally, perhaps — acted a most 
conspicuous part on the theatre of the world, and especially in the affairs 
of American independence. ''Both had been Presidents, both had lived 
to great age, both were early patriots, and both were distinguished and 
ever honored by their immediate agency in the act of independence. It 
cannot but seem striking and extraordinary, that these two should live to 
see the fiftieth year from the date of that act ; that they should complete 
that year, and that then, on the day which had fast linked forever their 
own fame with their country's glory, the Heavens should open to 
receive them both at once. As their lives themselves were the gifts of 
Providence, who is not willing to recognize, in their happy termination, 
as well as in their long continuance, proofs that our country and its 
benefactors are objects of His care?" 

POLITICAL MOVEMENTS. 

The administration of Mr. Adams was marked by the rise or 
development of several political movements which were destined to 
have far-reaching effects. One of these was the adoption of the "Ameri- 
can System" of a protective tariff, especially championed by Henry 
Clay, of Kentucky. The name "American System" was given to the 
policy of protecting, by impost duties, the manufactures of the country 
against foreign competition. It began to be employed during the 
administration of Mr. Adams. Additional duties were sought by the 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 1 43 

friends of manufactures on woolen goods, and a bill for that purpose 
passed both houses of Congress in the months of April and May, 1827. 
The measure, however, seemed not to be satisfactory to the country at 
large. "The President was in favor of affording protection to domestic 
manufactures generally, and of woolens particularly, which, at this time, 
was the leading question in political economy, so far as the Federal 
government was believed to have authority to interfere. But he was also 
friendly to extensive enterprises in commerce and navigation, and express- 
ed no opinion in support of the ultra doctrines of the manufacturers." 
The rise of the Anti-Masonic party, of which more will be heard in 
a later chapter, is also to be attributed to this era. The tariff contro 
versy gave rise to the famous "Nullification" movement, and the dispute 
with Great Britain over the ownership of Oregon waxed apace. A new 
treaty was concluded with Great Britain, and a material revision of the 
pension system, to Revolutionary soldiers and veterans of the War of 
181 2, took place. 

ELECTION OF GENERAL JACKSON. 

The administration of Mr. Adams encountered strong and deter- 
mined opposition. The circumstance of his rival, General Jackson, 
having had a larger popular vote than himsell, and having in Congress 
only a small majority when elected to office, seemed, in the view of the 
Democratic party, quite sufficient to justify a more than usual distrust 
of his administration from its beginning. Mr. Adams was watched with 
singular vigilance, and every advantage taken to render his acts unpopu- 
lar. It was early charged against him that a corrupt bargain had been 
made with Mr. Clay, his Secretary of State. The Panama mission was 
represented as a measure weak and injudicious. And, moreover, it was 
charged that his administration was wasteful and extravagant. 

During Monroe's administration, and, indeed, in the early part oi 
John Quincy Adams's, party lines were practically abolished in American 
politics. But in the latter part of Mr. Adams's term they began to be 
drawn again pretty strictly. The friends of Mr. Adams called them- 
selves National Republicans, or Whigs. The friends and political fol- 
lowers of General Jackson, on the other hand, took the name of Demo- 
crats. Mr. Jackson was put forward as a candidate for the presidency, 
and, after a heated and bitter campaign, was elected, John C. Calhoun, 
of South Carolina, being chosen at the same time as Vice-President. 



CHAPTER XL 



Fall of Louis XVIII. — The War in Greece — Accession of Czar Nicholas I. — 
Change of Russian Policy — Destruction of the Janissaries — Declar- 
ing for Greek Independence — Battle of Navarino — Russia 
Makes War on Turkey — Doings in Various Lands. 



UPON the fall of Louis XVIII, of France, his brother, the Count 
of Artois, became King, as Charles X. He was imbued with all 
the prejudices and prepossessions of the old regime, and he had 
none of his brother's power of seeing when it was necessary to 
yield. He contrasts with Louis XVIII as James II did with Charles II. 
But his first measures were popular. He expressed his determination 
to uphold the Charter; he removed the censorship of the press ; and he 
restored to Louis Philippe, the son of Philippe Egalite, the great posses- 
sions of the house of Orleans and the title of Royal Highness. But 
before long he showed his real intentions. The Ministry of Villele was 
retained, and more than 150 officers of the Empire were dismissed from 
the army, and the Jesuits, though still proscribed by law, were allowed 
to return to France and to resume their control of education. The 
enormous sum of 100,000,000 francs was raised to compensate the 
losses of the emigrants who had fled during the revolution, and in spite 
of vigorous opposition the scheme was adopted by the submissive 
chambers. But it was the Kingf's devotion to the church that raised the 
bitterest discontent. The open patronage of the Jesuits, the gorgeous 
processions through the streets, in which the King himself took part, and 
a law which proposed to punish sacrilege with death, aroused uncompro- 
mising hostility in a city where the teaching of Voltaire still prevailed. 
In 1825 the funeral of General Foy, the most eloquent leader of the 
opposition, gave an opportunity for a grand Liberal demonstration. To 
silence criticism the Government brought in a new law to shackle the 
press, but it was received with such disfavor in both chambers that it had 
to be withdrawn. In 1827, while the King was reviewing the National 
Guard, a cry was raised of " Down with the Jesuits ! " and the force was 

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broken up. Villele now determined on a last effort to maintain his 
power. The Chamber of Deputies was dissolved, and seventy-six new 
peers were created. But the new elections went completely against the 
Government, and the Liberals secured a majority of 428 to 125. The 
King was compelled to give way, and Villele was dismissed (January 
3, 1828). 

A moderate Ministry now came into office under the Presidency of 
M. de Martignac. A law was introduced which imposed only slight 
restrictions upon the press, and a number of ordinances were issued 
against the Jesuits. But Martignac found that he had a very difficult 
position to occupy. Charles X regarded the Ministers as forced upon 
him, and refused to give them confidence. 

THE WAR IN GREECE. 

The campaign of 1825, in Greece, was opened by the landing, in the 
Morea, of an Egyptian army under Ibrahim Pacha, son of the Viceroy of 
Egypt, whom the Sultan had induced to engage in the war. Navarino 
soon fell into his power ; nor was his course arrested till he had carried 
desolation as far as Argos. In the meantime Missolonghi was closely 
besieged by a combined land and naval Turkish force, which, on the 2d of 
August, after a contest of several days, suffered a disastrous defeat, with 
the loss of 9000 men. But Missolonghi was again besieged for the fourth 
time, the siege being conducted by Ibrahim Pacha alone, who had an 
army of 25,000 men, trained mostly by French officers. After repelling 
numerous assaults and enduring the extremities of famine, Missolonghi 
at length fell, on the 2 2d of April, 1826, when 1800 of the garrison cut 
their way through the enemy and reached Salonica and Athens in safety. 
Many of the inhabitants escaped to the mountains ; large numbers were 
captured in their flight ; and those who remained in the city, about one 
thousand in number, mostly old men, women and children, blew them- 
selves up in the mines that had been prepared for the purpose. Five 
thousand women and children were made slaves, and more than three 
thousand ears were sent as a precious trophy to Constantinople. 

The fall of Missolonghi was followed by the siege of Athens. 
Another obstinate defence was made, but in spite of the assistance ren- 
dered by Colonel Fabvier, Lord Cochrane and General Church, Athens 
had to surrender (2d of June, 1827). The Greek cause was hopeless 



I48 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

unless the European powers would interfere, and the old dissensions 
broke out again. Fortunately for the Greeks events had occurred which 
altered the relations of the European States, and frustrated Metternich's 
determination to uphold the Porte as the champion of legitimate authority 
against revolution. 

ACCESSION OF CZAR NICHOLAS I. 

On the 1 st of December, 1825, Alexander I, of Russia, died sud- 
denly on a journey to the Crimea. As he left no children, his natural 
successor was his brother, Constantine, who resided in Warsaw, as 
Governor of Poland. But Constantine, who had contracted a morganatic 
marriage with a Polish Princess, and who was devoid of ambition, had, 
in 1822, formally renounced all claims in favor of his younger brother, 
Nicholas. This rem. nciation had never been made public, and Nicholas, 
unwilling to act upon it until it had been confirmed, caused the troops to 
swear fealty to Constantine as Alexander's successor. But the elder 
brother positively refused to ascend the throne, and Nicholas was com- 
pelled to assume the authority that now devolved upon him. But unex- 
pected difficulties confronted him. Alexander's desertion of Liberal 
principles in his later years had alienated the affection of his subjects, 
and a secret association had been formed, under Prince Troubetskoi, 
with the object of forming Russia into a federal republic. The uncer- 
tainty about the succession and the consequent interregnum gave the 
conspirators an unexpected opportunity. They persuaded the soldiers 
that Constantine' s pretended renunciation was a fraud, and that Nicholas 
was trying to usurp his brother's throne. The result was that, when the 
troops were called upon to take a new oath of fealty, a cry was raised for 
Constantine, and the tumult went so far that artillery had to be employed, 
and the disloyal regiments were almost destroyed before they would 
yield. The conspiracy was now discovered and its leaders punished. 

CHANGE OF RUSSIAN POLICY. 

The accession of Nicholas brought with it a complete change in both 
the internal and foreign politics of Russia. From the first moment he 
abandoned the system pursued by his predecessors from Peter the Great 
downwards. Instead of attempting to civilize Russia by introducing the 
customs and laws of western Europe, he showed himself an ardent par- 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 149 

tisan of all the old national institutions, and especially the Greek Church. 
The Russian language was ordered to be taught in the German and 
Polish provinces, and a knowledge of it was essential for a place in the 
public service. If a foreigner married a Russian their children must be 
educated in the faith of the latter. The zeal for proselytism only just 
stopped short of actual persecution. At the same time Nicholas claimed 
to be the head and protector for all members of the Greek Church out- 
side of his own dominions, It was evident that his attitude in the eastern 
question would be very different from that of Alexander, and that it 
would be determined by the interests of Russia rather than by the princi- 
ples of legitimacy. The Holy Alliance had been shaken by the conduct 
of Canning ; it was shattered by the accession of Nicholas. Metternich 
lost the control of European diplomacy which he had contrived to hold 
for the last ten years. 

Canning lost no time in sending Wellington to St. Petersburg to 
discuss the question of Greece with the Czar. At first Nicholas haughtily 
declared that his relations with the Porte concerned no other power, but 
he soon saw the advantage of making England his accomplice in a par- 
tition of Turkey. In April, 1826, a secret convention was signed, which 
arranged that Greece should be formed into a regular State, but should 
pay tribute to the Sultan. In case of refusal the two powers were to 
compel the Porte to accept these terms. The other powers were to be 
invited to join the alliance. 

DESTRUCTION OF THE JANISSARIES. 

At the same time Nicholas had other matters to settle with the 
Sultan, and Mahmoud II played into his hands by choosing this very 
moment for the reforms which he had been meditating ever since his 
accession. He issued an ordinance altering the constitution of the Janis- 
saries, the famous Turkish troops composed of children of Christians 
taken captive, though it left the existing members of corps in enjoyment 
of their privileges. The result was a general mutiny on the 14th of 
June. But the Sultan was prepared for extreme measures. He pro- 
duced the sacred standard of the prophet and called upon all true be- 
lievers to support him. A wholesale massacre of the Janissaries followed, 
and the name was banished forever. Mahmoud now set to work to raise 
a new army, which was to consist of 250,000 men, armed and trained like 



150 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

European troops. But a long time must elapse before such an elaborate 
scheme could be carried out, and meanwhile Turkey was defenceless. 
This compelled the Sultan to accept all the demands of Nicholas in the 
convention of Ackermann (October, 1826). The treaty of Bucharest 
was confirmed, and it was agreed that the Hospodars of Moldavia and 
Wallachia should be chosen for seven years, that they should rule with a 
council of Boyars in complete independence of the Porte, and that they 
could not be deposed without the consent of Russia. Servia was to elect 
its own Prince, and the Sultan was not to interfere in its internal affairs. 
Russia was to occupy the fortresses on the east coast of the Black Sea, 
and Russian ships had the right of entering all Turkish waters. 

DECLARING FOR GREEK INDEPENDENCE. 

One of the Sultan's motives for such abject compliance was a desire 
to separate Russia from England on the Greek question. But Nicholas 
was the last man to be turned from his course by an exhibition of weak- 
ness, and the negotiations were actively prosecuted at a conference in 
London. Metternich resolutely refused to countenance rebellion in any 
form, and induced Frederick William of Prussia to adhere to the pro- 
gramme of the Holy Alliance. In France the moderate Louis XVIII had 
been succeeded by the reactionary Charles X, but the strong French 
sympathy with the Greeks induced the Government to disregard the 
danger of revolution and to join Russia and England. On the 6th of 
July, 1827, the three powers concluded the treaty of London, which was 
based on the previous convention of April, 1826. Greece was to be 
tributary, but otherwise independent ; hostilities were to cease imme- 
diately ; and if the Sultan failed to accept the mediation of the powers 
within a month, the latter would recognize the entire independence of 
Greece. This treaty, which was forced upon Canning by the fear of 
allowing Russia to interfere single-handed, was his last conspicuous act. 
He died on the 8th of August, and the Tories gradually regained the 
upper hand in the Ministry. 

BATTLE OF NAVARINO. 

The Sultan, whose hopes of success had been raised by the capture 
of Missolonghi and Athens, haughtily refused to admit the right of any 
power to interfere between himself and his rebellious subjects. Ibrahim 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. I 53 

at this time received large reinforcements, which were brought to Nava- 
rino by an Egyptian fleet from Alexandria. He received orders to wage 
a war of extermination in the Morea, and he acted up to the letter of his 
instructions. Meanwhile the allied fleets of England, France and Russia 
had appeared on the scene to enforce the treaty of London. The 
admirals called upon Ibrahim to cease hostilities, and entered the harbor 
of Navarino to compel his submission. In these circumstances a battle 
was inevitable, and in four hours the whole Egyptian fleet was utterly 
destroyed (20th October, 1827). Mehemet Ali was compelled to recall 
his son. Such active mediation had not been anticipated in England, 
where the Ministers alluded to the battle as "an untoward event." But 
the Greeks, whose cause seemed on the very verge of collapse, received 
the news with frantic enthusiasm. Mahmoud II complained bitterly o'i 
the outrage, and expressed his determination not to yield. In December 
the Ambassadors of the allied powers had to leave Constantinople. 

RUSSIA MAKES WAR ON TURKEY. 

That the battle of Navarino really proved an " untoward event " to 
English interests was due mainly to the conduct of the Ministers, who 
abandoned the policy of Canning and allowed Russia to attack Turkey 
single-handed, the very thing which he had striven to avoid. No oppo- 
sition was made to the election of the Russian nominee, Capo d'Istria, as 
President by the Greek National Assembly. Nicholas was eager to seize 
the advantages offered to him by the vacillation of England and the 
destruction of the Janissaries. Time was required to collect the resour 
ces of so vast a country as Russia, but in April, 1828, war was declared, 
and in May 150,000 Russian troops, under Wittgenstein, crossed the 
Pruth. To the astonishment of Europe the campaign was a complete 
failure. The Turks wisely restricted their efforts to the defence of for- 
tresses, in which they have always excelled. The Russians spent so 
much time in the siege of Schumla, Varna and Silistria, that winter com- 
pelled them to retreat before they had achieved anything beyond the 
reduction of Varna. The simultaneous campaign in Asia was more for 
tunate, and Paskiewitsch, who had already made a great name in the 
wars with Persia, captured the strong fortresses of Kars and Achalzik, 
which the Turks regarded as impregnable. At the same time the with- 
drawal of Ibrahim and his Egyptian troops enabled the Greeks once 



154 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

more to hold their own in the peninsula. Still, on the whole, the Russians 
had failed, and Metternich endeavored to take advantage of this to arrange 
a peace which should save Turkey from humiliation. But France and 
Prussia declined to support him, and even Wellington, who was now at 
the head of the English Ministry, would not take any active steps to 
check the advance of Russia. 

In the month of January, 1829, the Sultan received a protocol from 
the three allied powers, declaring that they took the Morea and Cyclades 
under their protection, and that the entry of any military force into 
Greece would be regarded as an attack upon themselves. 

DOINGS IN VARIOUS LANDS. 

The year 1825 saw changes on other thrones than that of Russia. 
In it Maximilian I, of Bavaria, was succeeded by his son, Louis I ; and 
Ferdinand I, of Naples, was succeeded by his son, Francis I. These 
changes were, however, of no special significance to the general course 
of events on the Continent. 

Of the first Burmese war and its results to the British Empire we 
have already spoken. It came to an end in 1826. In the same year the 
Spaniards evacuated Callao, their last holding in Peru. 

The illustrious Canning succeeded Lord Liverpool as Prime Minister 
of England in April, 1827, and died at the post of duty in August of the 
same year. In that year Frederick Augustus, King of Saxony, was 
succeeded by his brother Anthony. In 1828 the Duke of Wellington, 
the conqueror of Napoleon Bonaparte, became Prime Minister of 
England, and the Test Act, of which we have elsewhere spoken, was 
repealed. 

The war between Persia and Russia came to an end in February, 
1828, with the cession of Persian Armenia to Russia. In that year 
Uruguay was recognized as an independent republic. 



CHAPTER XII. 



Opening' of the Erie Canal — Gas Lighting — Railroads — Arctic Explor- 
ation — Early Strikes — Miscellaneous Events. 



THE year 1825 was marked in the United States with an event of 
inestimable industrial and commercial importance. This was the 
opening of the Erie Canal, directly connecting the Great Lakes 
with the Atlantic Ocean by way of the Hudson River. Seldom 
has a work of great public utility been so stubbornly resisted and so 
bitterly ridiculed and savagely denounced. Its author and promoter, 
DeWitt Clinton, was alternately derided as a lunatic and denounced as 
a knave. But his perseverance was crowned with success, and thus 
New York City was made the greatest commercial port of the Western 
Hemisphere. 

The project of connecting the lakes with the ocean by way of the 
Mohawk and Hudson valleys was considered as far back as the early 
part of the Revolutionary War, when no less a man than General Wash- 
ington found time amid his urgent military duties to look over a part of 
the route, and to express his opinion of the practicability of the scheme. 
The Western Inland Navigation Company was formed in 1792, and five 
years later it completed some six miles of shallow canal around rapids of 
the Mohawk, thus opening a waterway for small boats from above Little 
Falls to Lake Ontario. These works were afterwards purchased by the 
State of New York. 

The next step was taken in 1808, when Simeon DeWitt, the Sur- 
veyor-General of the State of New York, was directed to inspect and 
lay out a canal route from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. He ap- 
pointed James Geddes to do the work, and the latter, in January, 1809, 
reported on various routes by way of Oneida Lake and Oswego. The 
next year the New York Legislature appointed a committee on the pro- 
ject. The chairman of this committee was Gouverneur Morris, who as 
early as 1803 had declared himself in favor of a canal from Albany to 
Buffalo. This committee made several reports, but nothing practical 



156 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

was done until De Witt Clinton took up the matter and urged it to 
completion. 

On April 7th, 181 6, Clinton secured the passage of an act authoriz- 
ing the construction of the canal. Ground for the great work was 
broken at Rome, N. Y., on July 4th, 181 7. In the face of obstacles, the 
work was earnestly prosecuted, and Clinton had the supreme felicity of 
seeing it successfully completed and opened on November 4th, 1825, 
from Buffalo to Albany, a distance of 352 miles. It was forty feet wide 
and four feet deep, and was navigable by boats of 76 tons burden. It 
has since, of course, been much enlarged. 

The Lake Champlain Canal was authorized at the same time as the 
Erie. The State of Pennsylvania in 1826 began the construction of an 
elaborate series of canals from Pittsburg to Philadelphia and to Lake 
Erie, comprising more than 600 miles. The canal along the Delaware 
River from Bordentown to Easton was begun in 1827. The George- 
town and Cumberland Canal, to connect the Potomac with the Ohio 
River, was begun on July 4th, 1828, President Adams himself turning the 
first spadeful of earth. The Louisville and Portland Canal, in Kentucky, 
was begun in 1825. In 1824-29 the Chesapeake and Delaware bays 
were connected by a canal across the State of Delaware. The Delaware 
and Raritan Canal, across New Jersey, was planned at the same time, 
and was constructed a few years later. 

GAS LIGHTING. 

We have hitherto recorded the use of gas for illuminating purposes 
in London. The first attempt to manufacture gas in the United 
States was made at Baltimore in the second decade of the century, 
but was not successful until 1821. Gas lighting was introduced into 
the city of Boston on a small scale in 1822. The next year the New 
York Gas Light Company was organized in New York City, but for 
some time did nothing practical. At last, however, in 1827, it set to work 
and illuminating gas came into general use in the city. 

RAILROADS. 

The first real railroad in the world was that between Stockton and 
Darlington, in England, for the carrying of coal. It was opened in 1825, 
the cars being drawn by horses. But Stephenson soon equipped it 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 1 57 

with steam locomotives. In 1828 the Liverpool and Manchester railroad 
was opened, also for horse-power. Stephenson urged the use of steam- 
power, and the directors offered a reward for a locomotive that should 
be able to draw three times its own weight on a level track, at the rate of 
ten miles an hour. In October, 1829, the "Rocket," an engine built by 
Stephenson's nephew, more than answered the required test. It 
weighed only 7^ tons, and it drew 44 tons at the rate of 14 miles 
an hour. 

The United States did not lag behind in railroad building. A five- 
mile horse road was built at Quincy, Mass., in 1826—27, to convey 
granite from the quarries to tidewater. It was built to supply stone for 
the Bunker Hill Monument. Another was begun in 1827 and com- 
pleted in the same year, to carry coal from the mines to the river, at 
Mauch Chunk, Pa., a distance of nine miles. The cars, loaded, were to 
be run down by gravity, and pulled up again by mule-power. A simi- 
lar road was built in 1828 by the Delaware and Hudson Canal Com- 
pany, at Honesdale, Pa. 

In January, 1828, Horatio Allen, of the Delaware and Hudson 
Canal Company, went to England to order iron rails for the last-named 
road, and to examine the newly-invented steam locomotives ; and, if he 
thought well of them, to purchase three. He did, in fact, order one 
locomotive at the works of Foster, Rastrick & Co., of Stourbridge, and 
two more at the works of R. Stephenson & Co., at Newcastle. These 
engines were received at New York in the winter of 1828-9, and the 
following spring were put upon the rails. The Stourbridge engine was 
run with anthracite coal as fuel, by Mr. Allen himself, making six miles 
at its first trip, and was the first steam locomotive to be run on the 
American continent. The next year locomotive building was success- 
fully begun in the United States at West Point. 

ARCTIC EXPLORATION. 

The first important voyage to the Arctic seas in the nineteenth cen- 
tury was that of Captain Scoresby. This was simply a whaling voyage, 
but the high latitude of 81 deg. 30 min. was reached, in 1806. Twelve 
years later Commander John Ross made an unsatisfactory voyage into 
Baffin Bay and Lancaster Sound. In the same year, 18 18, Captain 
Buchan reached the northern part of Spitzbergen. 



I58 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

The first voyage of Lieutenant Parry was made in 1819-20. He 
was in quest of the north-west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
and he went through Davis Strait, Baffin Bay, Lancaster Sound and Bar- 
row Strait, to Melville Island. Captain (afterward Sir) John Franklin 
made a journey in the Hudson Bay and Great Slave Lake region, to the 
Arctic Ocean in 1819-22. At about the same time a Russian expedition 
explored Nova Zembla. Parry's second voyage was made in 182 1-3. 
Again he sought the northwest passage, and he went through Hudson 
Strait and Fox Channel to Fury and Hecla Strait. Captain Score:iby 
explored and mapped the eastern coast of Greenland to a high latitude 
in 1822. In that and the following year Captain Sabine went to Spitz - 
bergen and the eastern coast of Greenland. 

Parry's third voyage for the northwest passage, in 1824-25, ended 
in a shipwreck. In 1825-7 Franklin made his second expedition to the 
Arctic regions by way of the Mackenzie River. Captain Beechey went 
through Behring Sea and along the Arctic coast as far as Point Barrow 
in 1826. Parry made his fourth voyage in 182.7. On this occasion he 
forsook the northwest passage and steered for the North Pole. He 
went by ship to Spitzenbergen and thence by boats as far north as 82 
degrees 45 minutes, the highest latitude that had thus far been reached, 
and the highest that was reached for many years thereafter. 

EARLY STRIKES. 

The earliest strike of which there is any satisfactory record in this 
country was that of the boot and shoe makers of Philadelphia in 1796. 
These men "turned out," as the saying then was, for an increase of 
wages. They won, and again struck in 1798 and 1799, carrying their 
point each time. 

The first strike in New York of which record has been found is 
that of the sailors in 1803 for an increase of wages from $10 to $14 a 
month. The jack tars paraded around the water front and compelled 
seamen from every ship in port that they could reach to join with them 
in their agitation. They became riotous, and the town guard turned out 
and repressed their disorder. The leader of this strike was convicted 
and sent to jail, and the strike was a signal failure. On November 1, 
1805, the journeymen bootmakers of Philadelphia again struck, this time 
for an increase in their pay of from 25 to 75 cents on each pair of boots. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 159 

The successful precedents set by their fellows some years before did not 
avail them, however ; the strike was an egregious failure. Its organizers 
were found guilty of "conspiracy to raise wages," and were fined $8 
and costs each. When the New York shoemakers turned out in 1809, 
200 strong, they won their contention, but when the shoemakers in 
Pittsburg in 18 15 followed their example they failed, and were convicted 
and fined. 

As long ago as 1821 the printers struck in Albany against non- 
union workmen, but there are no data at hand now indicating the exact 
result of their protest. Next in chronological order came the strike of 
the spinning girls in the Cocheco Mills in Dover, N. H., in 1827. The 
carpenters and masons of Boston struck in 1830 for a ten-hour day and 
failed. So the protest against non-union workingmen dates at least from 
182 1, and that for a ten-hour day at least from 1830. 

MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS. 

The University of London, England, was founded in 1826, to become 
University College when the new University of London was incorporated 
in 1836. 

In 1825 occurred the death of Saint-Simon, the founder of French 
Socialism, and of Jean Paul Richter, the incomparable German essayist, 
humorist and philosopher. One of the most impressive incidents of the 
age was the death of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams on July 4, 1826, 
already mentioned elsewhere in these pages. Both were conspicuous 
framers and signers of the Declaration of Independence, both had been 
President of the United States, and both died on the same day, the 
fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration. 

Laplace, the great French astronomer, died in 1827, and the same 
year saw the death of Beethoven, the greatest musical composer the 
world has ever known. 

The years of which we are now speaking were marked with a 
strange mixture of fashions and customs in dress and otherwise. In 
the reactionary countries of Europe the tendency was toward a restora- 
tion of manners that had prevailed before the revolutionary era, while in 
England and the United States the tendency was in the opposite direc- 
tion. The latter tendency was the more rational, and finally prevailed. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Andrew Jackson becomes President of the United States — Changes in 

Office — Nullification — South Carolina Yields — Georgia and the 

Cherokees — National Bank — Removal of the Deposits — 

Black Hawk War — Seminole War — Jackson 

Re-elected — Foreign Affairs. 



IN 1829 Mr. Adams was succeeded as President of the United States 
by Andrew Jackson, who had been principally known for his military 
achievements, and who, in the battle of New Orleans, and in conduct- 
ing 1 a war with the Seminole and Creek Indians, had acquired a high 
reputation as a military commander. 

General Jackson's administration was signalized by a more extensive 
removal of office-holders than had been practiced by any of his prede- 
cessors ; by a persevering hostility to the United States Bank, which 
terminated in the overthrow of that institution ; and by opposition to the 
policy of making appropriations for internal improvements. Several bills 
making such appropriations, and also a bill for the renewal of the charter 
of the United States Bank, which passed both Houses of Congress, he 
returned with his veto. 

CHANGES IN OFFICE. 

President Jackson not only introduced into American politics the 
Democratic party under its present name, but he also established the 
principle of "rotation in office," or, as it has in later years been known, 
"the spoils system." He believed that it was best for the country to 
have frequent changes in office, and that such changes should be made 
by the simple process of turning off all the old office-holders and filling 
their places with the friends and followers of the new administration. So 
well did he put this principle into practice that in two years he made 
more changes in office than all his predecessors had made in forty years. 
His doctrine of rotation in office was in after years tersely expressed by 
his friend and follower, William L. Marcy, in the historic phrase, " to the 
victors belong the spoils." 

160 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. l6l 

NULLIFICATION. 

One of the most sensational events of Jackson's administration was 
the rise of " nullification," of which, indeed, the first intimations had been 
perceived in the preceding- administration. This was otherwise known 
as the doctrine of States Rights or States Sovereignty. It was put for- 
ward by the Vice-President, John C. Calhoun, and by Senator Robert Y. 
Hayne, both of South Carolina. They insisted that the United States 
was not a Union, but a mere Confederacy or Alliance of independent 
States, and that any State was at liberty to withdraw from it at any time, 
or to refuse to obey any law of the general government. This was, of 
course, the origin of the theory which in i860 and 1861 reached its 
culmination in open secession. Upon this subject was held the most 
famous debate ever known in the United States Senate, between Mr. 
Hayne on one side, and Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, on the other. 
The great reputation won by Mr. Webster in this debate gained for him 
the popular title of the Expounder of the Constitution, and his words, 
"Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable," became the 
often quoted watchword of those who were opposed to nullification and 
secession. Soon after this debate Mr. Hayne resigned his place in the 
Senate and became Governor of South Carolina, and Mr. Calhoun re- 
signed the Vice-Presidency to take the place thus left vacant in the 
Senate. Then a popular convention in South Carolina declared the 
national tariff law which Congress had enacted to be null and void, and 
added that if any attempt was made by the Federal government to 
enforce it in South Carolina that State would secede from the Union. 
President Jackson acted in this emergency with great promptness and 
resolution. He declared that nullification was treason, and that the 
Union must be and should be preserved. In this year, 1832, he issued 
a proclamation plainly and forcibly stating the nature of the American 
government, and the supremacy of the federal authorities in all matters 
intrusted to their care. At the same time, in this document, he exhorted 
the citizens of South Carolina not to persist in a course which must bring 
upon their State the force of the confederacy, and expose the Union to 
the hazard of a dissolution. 

SOUTH CAROLINA YIELDS. 

The proclamation of General Jackson was a noble production. It 
was hailed with delight throughout the country as well by his political 



162 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

opponents as by his friends. " Perhaps no document has emanated from 
the executive department of the government which has been more 
generally approved, both in regard to the style in which it was written, 
and the doctrines asserted and maintained, since the farewell address of 
the first President. It contains no speculative opinions, no new theories; 
it speaks the facts of history, in the language of the Constitution, and in 
the spirit which we, of a later generation, may suppose animated its 
framers." 

The Governor of South Carolina issued a counter proclamation, 
calling on the people to resist any attempt to enforce the tariff laws. 
The President then addressed a message to Congress, recommending 
such measures as would enable the executive to suppress the spirit of 
insubordination, and sustain the laws of the United States. The Presi- 
dent, on this momentous occasion, was nobly supported by the leaders 
of the opposition party in Congress, with Mr. Webster at their head. 
The force of public opinion was irresistible— South Carolina was com- 
pelled to shrink before it. No resistance was actually made to the 
enforcement of the laws they had nullified, and, consequently, no coercive 
measures were necessary on the part of the general government to 
maintain its authority. The objectionable laws were somewhat modified 
in the session of 1833, by what was termed "the compromise act," pro- 
posed by Mr. Clay ; and South Carolina, though she was not convinced 
of her error, made no further attempt, until many years later, to put her 
theories into practice. 

GEORGIA AND THE CHEROKEES. 

The President, in his message on the 8th of December, 1829, pre- 
sented at considerable length, his views in regard to the disposal of the 
Indian tribes within the limits of the United States. He recommended 
their removal beyond the boundary of the different States, but without 
compulsion, to such territory west of the Mississippi as Congress might 
set apart for their use. In this he wished to avoid the difficulties arising 
from the treaties between the United States and these Indians, and the 
opposing claims of the States within whose limits the Indians resided. 
This was one of the most embarrassing subjects which demanded the 
attention of the new administration. It was especially applicable to the 
relation which the Cherokees, a powerful tribe within the limits of 
Georgia, sustained to the general government. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 1 63 

Treaties had been made with this tribe, from time to time, ever since 
the adoption of the Federal Constitution. In these treaties the protec- 
tion of the United States was promised them, and the territory they 
inhabited was acknowledged to be theirs. But the government had also 
acknowledged the limits of Georgia, and had agreed to extinguish the 
Indian title whenever it could be peaceably effected. 

Georgia, in her anxiety to secure the Indian territory, had passed 
laws, from time to time, with reference to that object, claiming exclusive 
civil and criminal jurisdiction over the Indians. In this state of things 
the new administration came in, and the views of the President coinciding 
with those of the State of Georgia, a change was made in her mode of 
procedure. She was allowed, with the approbation of the general 
government, to extend her laws over the Cherokees, and to consider the 
treaties of the United States with them, guaranteeing their territory, as 
unconstitutional and void. 

Notwithstanding all the stringent measures of Georgia the Chero- 
kees were determined to remain in the land of their fathers. But at 
length, in 1835, a few of their chiefs were induced to sign a treaty for the 
sale of their lands and a removal west of the Mississippi. Although this 
treaty was opposed by a majority of the Cherokees, and the terms after- 
wards decided upon at Washington rejected, yet, as the State of Georgia 
was determined in its hostility, and they could expect no protection, 
according to the new doctrine, from the general government, they finally 
decided upon a removal ; but it was not until the close of the year 1838 
that the task of emigration was completed. 

NATIONAL BANK. 

In anticipation of a request for the renewal of the charter of the 
United States Bank, the President, in his message to Congress, had 
expressed opinions adverse to that measure. But the standing com- 
mittees of the Senate and House, to which that portion of his message 
referred, made reports in opposition to the President's views. The 
friends of the administration formed a majority in both committees, and 
it was readily perceived how little harmony of action there was likely to 
be, on that subject, between the President and the party which had 
brought him into power. 

About four years anterior to the expiration of the existing charter, 
that is, in December, 1832, a memorial was presented to Congress from 



164 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

the President and Directors of the United States Bank, for a renewal 
of its charter. This memorial was referred to a select committee, which, 
on the 13th of March following, reported in its favor, recommending only 
some limitations to the power of issuing notes and holding real property, 
also the payment of a bonus of $1,500,000. After long debates and 
various amendments a bill for this purpose was carried in the Senate by 
a vote of twenty-eight to twenty, and in the House by a vote of one 
hundred and seven to eighty-five ; but, being on the 4th of July sent to 
the President, it was returned to the Senate on the 10th of July with an 
absolute veto, which, not being opposed by two-thirds, decided the fate 
of the bank. 

REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 

The law of 18 16, which created the United States Bank, required 
that the public moneys should be deposited in that bank, subject to be 
removed only by the Secretary of the Treasury, and requiring him, in that 
case, to present his reasons for removing them to Congress. Congress 
had already refused to authorize the removal of the deposits, and the 
President was now resolved to effect it on his own responsibility. The 
new Secretary of the Treasury, William J. Duane (for there had been 
some recent changes in the Cabinet), refusing to act in this matter and 
resigning his office, the Attorney-General, Roger B.Taney, was appointed 
in his place. Mr. Taney immediately issued the necessary orders for the 
removal of the deposits from the United States Bank — a measure which 
resulted from the President's determination to break off all connection 
between the government and the bank. 

At the coming session of Congress, 2d of December, 1833, one of 
the first acts of the Senate was the adoption of a resolution, by a vote 
of twenty-six to twenty, declaring "that the President, in his late execu- 
tive proceedings in relation to the public revenue had assumed upon 
himself authority and power not conferred by the Constitution and laws, 
but in derogation of both." This resolution remained on the journal 
until January 15, 1837, when it was formally expunged by order of the 
Senate. 

The act of the President, and the measures taken by the United 
States Bank, occasioned much embarrassment throughout the mercantile 
community during the years 1834 and 1835. Committees, appointed by 
the merchants, mechanics and tradesmen of the principal commercial 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 1 65 

cities, solicited the President to replace the government deposits in the 
United States Bank. But he resisted every solicitation. Many petitions 
were sent to Congress on the same subject. The Senate favorably 
received them, but the House saw fit to sustain the President in this 
measure. 

BLACK HAWK WAR. 

The year 1832 was signalized by the Black Hawk War, so named 
for the famous chief of the Sac and Fox Indian tribes, who was the 
leader in it. These tribes had joined the British in the War of 181 2, 
and inflicted much injury on the Americans. Encouraged by the friend- 
ship of the British, as well as incited by their own warlike propensities, 
the Sacs and Foxes claimed the right of occupying a part of the country 
upon Rock River, even after it had been sold to the citizens of the 
United States and the latter had made settlements upon it. In attempt- 
ing to assert this right, frequent collisions ensued ; and, as no persua- 
sions on the part of the agents of the government could induce them to 
be quiet and confine themselves to their own country on the west of the 
Mississippi, measures were taken to compel them to desist from their 
aggressions. As early as 1831, a considerable detachment of the army, 
and also of the militia of Illinois, was called into the field ; upon which 
the Indians agreed to confine themselves within their own proper limits. 

In a short time, however, this arrangement was violated by a party 
of these Indians in an outrage committed upon a band of friendly 
Menomonies in the very vicinity of Fort Crawford. Twenty-five per- 
sons were wantonly killed and many wounded while encamped in the 
village of Prairie du Chien under the protection of our flag. It was felt 
by the government that this aggression could not be passed over without 
the infliction of a due chastisement, as all was at stake in regard to the 
friendly Indians and the frontier settlements in that quarter. Accord- 
ingly, the department ordered General Atkinson, on the 7th of March, 
1832, to ascend the Mississippi with the disposable regular troops at 
Jefferson Barracks, and to strengthen the frontiers ; orders were also 
given for the re-occupation of Chicago. 

In the prosecution of his instructions, General Atkinson proceeded 
to the Indian country, where, after various skirmishes and several more 
serious engagements, the Sacs and Foxes, under the direction of Black 
Hawk, fled beyond the Mississippi. On the 28th and 29th of July, 



j66 story of one hundred years. 

General Atkinson crossed with his army to the north side of the Wis- 
consin, at Helena, in pursuit of the enemy. After a most difficult and 
forced march over steep mountains and through deep ravines, on the 5th 
day of March the enemy was announced by one of the scouts. A suit- 
able disposition was made of the American forces, with a view to pre- 
vent the escape of any of the foe, and the firing commenced as the dif- 
ferent portions of the army came in contact with him. The battle lasted 
upwards of three hours. About fifty of his women and children were 
taken prisoners, and many were killed in the battle. When the Indians 
were driven to the bank of the Mississippi, some hundreds of the men, 
women and children plunged into the river, and hoped, by diving, to 
escape the bullets. Very few, however, escaped — the American sharp- 
shooter is nearly infallible in his aim. 

Black Hawk, in the midst of the battle, escaped, and went up the 
river. The savages, after this defeat, became convinced of the impos- 
sibility of contending with success against the American arms. No fur- 
ther serious resistance was offered on their part, and the war soon closed 
by the capture of Black Hawk, who was delivered up to the American 
commander by two Winnebagoes on the 27th of August. He was well 
treated and much noticed in the United States. 

SEMINOLE WAR. 

The Seminole Indians of Florida, near the close of the year 1835, 
commenced hostilities against the settlements of the whites in their neigh- 
borhood. To this they were incited by the attempt of the government 
to remove the Indians to lands west of the Mississippi, in accordance 
with the treaty of Payne's Landing, executed in 1832. That treaty, 
however, the Indians denied to be justly binding upon them, and they 
naturally felt a strong reluctance to quit their homes forever. Micanopy, 
the king of the Seminoles, was opposed to the removal ; and Osceola, 
their most noted warrior, said he "wished to rest in the land of his 
fathers, and his children to rest by his side." 

Osceola was cruelly put in irons by General Thompson, the govern- 
ment agent, who was displeased by the pretensions of the chieftain and 
his remonstrances against the governmental proceedings. He, however, 
obtained his liberty at length by dissembling his displeasure, and gave 
his confirmation to the treaty of removal. The whites were thus lulled 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



I67 



into security, and, while they were expecting the delivery of the cattle 
and horses of the Indians according to the treaty, the latter were 
already commencing the work of devastation and death. 

At this time Major Dade was dispatched from Fort Brooke, at the 
head of Tampa Bay, with upwards of one hundred men, to the assistance 
of General Clinch, stationed at Fort Drane, in the interior of Florida. 
The latter was supposed to be in imminent danger. Dade had proceeded 
only about half the distance when he was suddenly attacked by the 
enemy, and he and all except lour of his men were killed, and these 
four, terribly mangled, afterwards died of their wounds. 

At the time of this massacre, Osceola, with a small band of warriors, 
was lurking in the vicinity of Fort King, about sixty-five miles south-west 
from St. Augustine. Here General Thompson and a few friends were 
dining at a store near the fort when Osceola and his band surprised them 
by a sudden discharge of musketry, and five out of nine were killed. 
The general was one of the slain. The war came to an end in 18^6, 
the Indians being subdued and removed to the Indian Territory, west of 
the Mississippi River. 

JACKSON RE-ELECTED. 

Mr. Clay's compromise tariff of 1832 averted civil war, but did not 
prove permanently satisfactory. In the fall of 1832 a new presidential 
election was held, and, for the first time in the history of the country, 
the candidates were nominated at national conventions of the respective 
parties. Before that time they had been nominated by congressional 
caucuses, by the States' Legislatures or by local conventions. Three 
nominations were made in 1832. The Democrats renominated Jackson ; 
the National Republicans or Whigs, nominated Henry Clay ; the third 
party, which nominated William Wirt, was known as the Anti-Masonic 
party. It had its origin in 1826. In that year one William Morgan, 
living in the western part of New York State, published a little book 
purporting to reveal some of the secrets of Freemasonry. Shortly after- 
ward he mysteriously disappeared, and was never again heard of. His 
friends immediately raised the cry that he had been kidnapped and mur- 
dered by the Freemasons, and, in consequence, a political party was 
formed designed to exclude all Freemasons from office, if not from citi- 
zenship. The dead body of a man was afterward found in a river where 
he had been drowned, and, though quite unrecognizable, was declared 



[68 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

by the Anti-Masons to be that of Morgan. Among- themselves they 
admitted that it might not be, and, indeed, probably was not, Morgan's 
body, but they said in a phrase which has become historic, " It is a good- 
enough Morgan until after election." 

FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 

In 1834 the country was disturbed by an apprehension of a hostile 
collision with France. The French government, by a treaty negotiated 
in 1 83 1, had agreed to make indemnity for spoliations made on American 
commerce during the reign of Napoleon, but it had failed to fulfill its 
engagements. The President recommended (1834) reprisals upon French 
commerce. The measure, however, was not adopted by Congress, and 
the danger of open hostility was happily removed by the action of the 
French government in making, in the following year, provision to 
fulfill its stipulations. 

The public debt of the United States in 1816, after the close of the 
war with Great Britain, amounted to upwards of $127,000,000. After 
the return of peace the debt was rapidly reduced, and in 1836, it having 
been all paid off, it was computed that on the 1st of January, 1837, there 
would remain in the treasury a surplus revenue of $27,000,000. An act 
was passed by Congress (1836) for distributing this surplus (reserving 
$5,000,000), to be paid, in four instalments, to the several States, in pro- 
portion to their representation in the Senate and House of Represen- 
tatives. 

The admission of Arkansas into the Union as a State, the beginning 
of Garrison's anti-slavery agitation, and the conception of the Anti- 
Slavery Society, date from the closing years of Jackson's administration, 
though more is to be heard of the last two at a later date. 

At the close of his second term President Jackson acquiesced in the 
established custom, and signified his intention of retiring to private life. 
At the election in the fall of 1836, Martin Van Buren, of New York, was 
chosen to succeed him, with R. M. Johnson, of Kentucky, as Vice- 
President. 



•:■ 







1821— PIONEERS CROSSING THE SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAINS 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Catholic Emancipation in England— Wellington Prime Minister— Catholic 

Emancipation Effected — End of the Greek Revolution — Russo-Turkish 

War — Troubles in France — Conquest of Algeria — Reaction in 

France — The Revolution Begins — Flight of the King— Belgian 

Revolution — Unrest in Poland — Outbreak at Warsaw — 

Russians Routed — The Fall of Poland— Reform Law 

in England — Triumph of Reform — Doings in 

Various Lands — The Carlist War, 



FOREMOST among the political questions in England in the 
third decade of the century was that of Catholic emancipa- 
tion, so-called. It really involved the granting of political 
rights to Roman Catholics and to Protestants who dissented 
from the Established Church of England. In the year 1824 an 
Irishman, Daniel O'Connell, a barrister of great eloquence, organ- 
ized the "Catholic Association," and collected a "rent" from the 
Irish people. In 1825 a relief bill, brought in by Sir Francis 
Burdett, passed the Commons, but was lost in the Lords, where the 
Duke of York uttered a solemn oath that, if he came to the throne, 
he would never consent to the repeal of the Catholic disabilities. The 
Duke, however, died on the 5th of January, 1827, and in February the 
long administration of Lord Liverpool was ended by his seizure with 
paralysis. The King, who disliked Canning for his former advocacy of 
the Catholic claims, felt nevertheless obliged to receive him as a Pre- 
mier (April 1, 1827). But Canning had already contracted a mortal dis- 
ease at the funeral of the Duke of York. He was regarded by the 
aristocracy as an upstart. He was deserted by the Duke of Welling- 
ton, Mr. Peel, Lord Eldon, and the old Tory party. He was harassed 
by his false position between the opposition, who called on him to re- 
deem his professions in favor of the Catholics, and the King, who de- 
clared that he should break his coronation oath if he consented to 
emancipation. In four short months Canning died (Aug. 8, 1827). 
10 171 



17 2 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

He was buried privately in Westminster Abbey, and his widow was 
made a viscountess. The title descended to his son, who raised it to 
an earldom by his signal services in India, and died, like his father, a 
martyr to the public service (June, 1862). 

WELLINGTON. PRIME MINISTER. 

The short administration of Viscount Goderich (Aug., 1827 — Jan., 
1828) was again succeeded by that of the Duke of Wellington, with Mr. 
Peel as Home Secretary. The friends of Mr. Canning — namely, Mr. 
Huskisson, Mr. Lamb, Mr. Grant and Lord Palmerston — afterward left 
the ministry. It was under this Tory Government that the disabilities, 
both of the Protestant Dissenters and of the Roman Catholics, were re- 
moved. Lord John Russell (b. Aug. 18, 1792), the younger son of the 
Duke of Bedford, and the faithful inheritor of the principles for which 
Lord William Russell suffered under Charles II, moved the repeal of the 
Test and Corporation acts passed under that King. Mr. Peel was leit 
in a minority, and withdrew his opposition. In the Lords the measure 
was supported by Lord Holland, the nephew of Charles James Fox, and 
the Duke of Sussex, the sixth son of George III., to whom his consistent 
support of civil and religious liberty had been most distasteful, as it now 
was to George IV. The passing of this act gave a new stimulus to the 
agitation for Catholic relief. The crisis was brought on by the election 
of O'Connell for the county of Clare. The Duke of Wellington was 
convinced that his choice lay between concession and a civil war, the 
horrors of which he deprecated with deep feeling ; and his ministry an- 
nounced a measure for the relief of the Catholics in the King's speech 
(1829). Mr. Peel, who had always opposed the Catholic claims, was re- 
jected by his constituents of the University of Oxford in favor of Sir 
Robert Harry Inglis, a kind-hearted, simple-minded Tory, who always 
held that "wherever the King carried his flag, there he should carry his 
'church." Peel came back to the House as member for Westbury, and 
introduced the bill, which passed the Lords on April 10, after earnest 
opposition. Lord Eldon was moved to tears, and Lord Winchelsea 
came forward as the champion of religion in a duel with the Duke of 
Wellington. The act opened Parliament and offices of State to the 
Catholics on their taking a new oath in place of the -oath of supremacy; 
but they were excluded from the offices of Regent, Viceroy of Ireland. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. I 73 

and Lord Chancellor both in England and Ireland. The exclusion from 
the crown, and its forfeiture by marriage with a Catholic, remained in 
force. The words of the new oath, "on the true faith of a Christian," 
had the effect of excluding the Jews from Parliament until 1858, when 
they were admitted. 

CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION EFFECTED. 

The King gave his assent to the bill, but showed a resentment 
against the ministry, which was shared by the Tory party. Their violent 
opposition, in concert with the Radicals, was only neutralized by the sup- 
port of the Whigs, which enabled Peel to carry some valuable measures, 
among which was the formation of the new police (1830). He had pre- 
viously mitigated the criminal law ; and Mr. Brougham had moved (Feb., 
1828), in a speech of surpassing eloquence, for a commission on the 
state of the law, which led to most important reforms. But the rejection 
of Lord John Russell's motion to give members to the great manufac- 
turing towns of Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, left the question 
of parliamentary reform to be settled in the next reign. Meanwhile the 
King was living in peevish seclusion at Windsor, where he died on the 
26th of June, 1830, in the 68th year of his age and the 11th of his 
reign, and was succeeded by his next surviving brother, William 
Henry Duke of Clarence. 

END OF THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 

The battle of Navarino and accompanying events, recorded in a 
former chaper, practically ended the Greek revolution and gave that coun 
try independence. The provisional government of Greece, which had 
been organized during the revolution, was agitated by discontents and 
jealousies. For some time the country remained in an unsettled condi 
tion, and the President, Count Capo d'Istria, was assassinated in October, 
1 83 1. The allied powers having previously determined to erect Greece 
into a monarchy, fir^t offered the crown to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Co 
burg (since King of Belgium), who declined it on account of the unwil- 
lingness of the Greeks to receive him, and their dissatisfaction with 
the boundaries prescribed by the allied powers. Finally the crown 
was conferred on Otho, a Bavarian Prince, who arrived at Nauplia 
in 1833. 



174 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. 

Russia continued her aggressions upon Turkey. In 1829 the com- 
mand of the Russian army in European Turkey was given to Diebitsch, 
a native of Silesia. He left behind him, under guard, the Turkish for- 
tresses which his predecessor had vainly tried to reduce, and pressed on 
to and across the Balkans. His was the first Russian army that ever 
crossed the Balkans and approached Constantinople. On reaching 
Adrianople, however, his army was found to be so weakened by fatigue 
and disease that it mustered only 13,000 men. A vigorous attack by the 
Turks would have ensured his annihilation. Fortunately for him, how- 
ever, the Turks entered into negotiations for peace, and a treaty was 
concluded. Russia resigned all conquests except some islands at the 
mouth of the Danube and a small strip of territory in Asia, acquisi- 
tions, however, of much strategic importance. The Hospodars of Mol- 
davia and Wallachia were to be appointed for life, and were to be practi- 
cally independent of Turkey. No Turk was to reside in those prov- 
inces, which were made a protectorate of Russia. Thus was laid the 
foundation of the present great kingdom of Roumania. The navigation 
of the Danube was to be free, and the Dardanelles were to be open to 
the ships of neutral powers. 

In 1829, through the close intercourse of the Western powers with 
Turkey, the dreadful scourge of Asiatic cholera was first introduced into 
Europe, where it made hideous ravages, and whence it was later trans- 
ferred to the United States. 

TROUBLES IN FRANCE. 

Meantime, Charles X of France was hastening to his fall. The 
liberal ministry, which the popular party had forced upon the king, was 
suddenly dismissed, and in August, 1829, an ultra-royalist ministry was 
appointed, at the head of which was Prince Polignac, one of the old 
royalists, and an early adherent to the Bourbons. 

At the opening of the Chambers in March, 1830, the speech from 
the throne plainly announced the determination of the king to overcome 
by force any obstacles that might be interposed in the way of his 
government, concluding with the threat of resuming the concessions 
made by the charter. As soon as the speech was made public the funds 
fell ; the ministers had a decided majority opposed to them in the Cham- 



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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 177 

ber of Deputies, and a spirited reply was made, declaring that "a con- 
currence did not exist between the views of the Government and the 
wishes of the people ; that the administration was actuated by a distrust 
of the nation, and that the nation, on the other hand, was agitated with 
apprehensions which threatened its prosperity and repose." The king 
then prorogued the Chambers, and on the 17th of May a royal ordinance 
declared them dissolved and ordered new elections — measures that pro- 
duced the greatest excitement throughout France. 

CONQUEST OF ALGERIA. 

In the meantime, the king and his ministers, hoping to facilitate their 
projects and overcome their unpopularity by gratifying the taste of the 
French people for military glory, declared war against Algiers, the Dey 
having refused to pay long-standing claims of French citizens, and having 
insulted the honor of France by striking the French consul when the 
latter was paying him a visit of ceremony. A fleet of ninety-seven ves- 
sels, carrying more than forty thousand soldiers, embarked at Toulon on 
the 10th of May, on the 14th of June effected a landing on the African 
coast, and on the 5th of July compelled Algiers to capitulate after a 
feeble resistance. The Dey was allowed to retire unmolested to Italy, 
and his vast treasures fell into the hands of the conquerors. 

REACTION IN FRANCE. 

The success of the French arms in Africa occasioned great exulta- 
tion in France, but did nothing towards allaying the excited state of 
public feeling against the detested ministry. The elections ordered to 
be held in June and the early part of July resulted in a large increase 
of opposition members, and the ministerial party was left in a miserable 
minority. The infatuated ministry, however, instead of withdrawing, 
madly resolved to set the voice of the nation at defiance, and to even 
subvert the constitutional privileges granted by the charter. They 
therefore induced the king to publish, on the morning of the 26th of 
July, three royal ordinances, the first dissolving the newly-elected Cham- 
ber of Deputies, the second changing the law of elections, sweeping 
off three-fourths of the former constituency, and nearly extinguishing 
the representative system, and the third suspending the liberty of the 
press. In the ministerial report, published at the same time with these 



178 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

ordinances, the ministers argued, in favor of the latter measure, that "at 
all epochs the periodical press had only been, and from its nature must 
ever be, an instrument of disorder and sedition!" 

In defiance of these ordinances, the conductors of the liberal jour- 
nals determined to publish their papers, and on the evening of the same 
day, the 26th, they published an address to their countrymen, declaring 
that " the Government stripped itself of the character of law, and was 
no longer entitled to their obedience" — language that would probably 
have exposed them to the penalties of treason if the contest had termi- 
nated differently. It was late in the day before intelligence of the arbi- 
trary measures of Government was generally circulated through Paris ; 
then crowds began to assemble in the streets, cries of " Down with the 
Ministry!" and "The Charter Forever!" were heard; fearless orators 
harangued the people, and during the night the lamps in several of the 
streets were demolished, and the windows of the hotel of Polignac 
broken. So little had the king anticipated any popular outbreak, that 
he passed the day of the 26th in the amusements of the chase; and it 
appears that the infatuated ministry had not even dreamed of a revolu- 
tion as the consequence of their obnoxious measures. 

THE REVOLUTION BEGINS. 

On the morning of the 27th several of the journalists printed and 
distributed their papers, but their doors were soon closed and their 
presses broken by the police. This morning the king appointed Marshal 
Marmont commander-in-chief of the forces in Paris, but it was not till 
four in the afternoon that orders were given to put the troops under 
arms, when they were marched to different stations to aid the police and 
overawe the people. The latter then began to arm ; some skirmishing 
occurred with the troops ; during the night the lamps throughout the city 
were demolished, and, under cover of the darkness, many of the streets 
were barricaded with paving stones torn up for the purpose. At the 
close of the day Marmont had informed the king that tranquillity was 
restored, and therefore no additional troops were sent for, nor were the 
great depots of arms and ammunition guarded. 

At an early hour on the morning of the 28th armed multitudes 
appeared on the streets, and numbers of the National Guard, which the 
king had previously disbanded, appeared in their uniforms among the 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 179 

throng, and with them the famous tricolored flag so dear to the hearts of 
all Frenchmen. To the surprise of Marmont, the king and the ministry, 
the riot which on the previous evening they had thought suppressed had 
assumed the formidable aspect of a revolution. By nine o'clock the flag 
of the people waved on the pinnacles of Notre Dame, and at eleven sur- 
mounted the central tower of the Hotel de Ville, which was afterwards, 
however, retaken by the royal troops. Marmont showed great indecision 
in his movements ; his columns were everywhere assailed with musketry 
from the barricades, from the windows of houses, from the corners of the 
streets and from the narrow alleys and passages which abound in Paris, 
and paving stones and other missiles were showered upon them from the 
housetops. The royal guards were disheartened ; the troops of the line 
showed great reluctance to fire upon the citizens, and the 28th closed 
with the withdrawal of the royal forces from every position in which they 
had attempted to establish themselves during the day. 

FLIGHT OF THE KING. 

The contest was renewed early on the morning of the third day, 
when several distinguished military characters appeared as leaders of the 
people, and among them General Lafayette, who took command of the 
National Guard ; but, while the issue was yet doubtful, several regiments 
of the line went over to the insurgents, who, thus strengthened and 
encouraged, rushed upon the Louvre and the Tuileries and speedily 
overcame the troops stationed there. So sudden was the assault that 
Marmont himself with difficulty escaped, leaving behind him more than 
twenty thousand dollars of the public funds. About half-past three p. m. 
the last of the military posts in Paris surrendered, the royal troops who 
escaped having in the meantime retreated to St. Cloud, where were the 
king and the ministry, now in consternation for their own safety. The 
revolution was speedily completed by the installation of a provisional 
government. On the 31st Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, the most 
popular of the royal family, accepted the office of Lieutenant-General 
of the Kingdom ; when the chambers met he was elected to the throne, 
and on the 9th of August took the oath to support the constitutional 
charter. 

The results of the revolutionary movement in France and the over 
throw of the elder branch of the Bourbons, in defiance of the guarantee 



ISO STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

of the Congress of Vienna, spread alarm among the sovereigns of Conti- 
nental Europe, and the Emperor of Russia went so far as not only to 
hesitate about acknowledging the title of the citizen King of France, but, 
it is believed, was prepared to support the claims of the exiled Charles X, 
when the popular triumph in England, in the passage of the Reform Bill 
in 1832, by converting a former ally into an enemy, raised up obstacles 
that arrested his measures. Charles X, after having abdicated the throne, 
was permitted to retire, unmolested, from France ; but the Ministers, 
attempting to escape, were arrested and afterwards brought to trial, 
when three of them, including Polignac, were declared guilty of treason 
and sentenced to imprisonment for life. At the end of six years they 
were released from confinement — indignation towards them having given 
place to pity. 

BELGIAN REVOLUTION. 

The French Revolution of 1830 produced a powerful sensation 
throughout Europe, and aroused an insurrectionary spirit wherever the 
people complained of real or fancied wrongs, while the continental sover- 
eigns, on the other hand, alarmed for the safety of their thrones, looked 
with jealousy upon every political movement that originated with the 
people, and prepared to suppress, by military force, the incipient efforts 
of rebellion. The Belgians, who had been compelled by the Congress of 
Vienna to unite with the Hollanders in forming the kingdom of the 
Netherlands, having long been goaded by unjust laws and treated rather 
as vassals than as subjects of the Dutch King, judging the period favor- 
able for dissolving their union with a people foreign to them in language, 
manners and interests, arose in insurrection at Brussels in the latter part 
of August, 1830, and, after a contest of four days' duration, drove the 
Dutch authorities and garrison from the city. 

In vain were efforts made by the Prince of Orange to reconcile the 
conflicting demands of the Dutch and the Belgians, and again unite the 
two people under one government. The proposals of the Prince were 
disavowed by his father, the King of Holland, and equally rejected by 
the Belgians ; and on the 4th of October the latter made a formal decla- 
ration of their independence. Soon after the representatives of the five 
great powers, France, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia and Austria, assem- 
bled at London, agreed to a protocol in favor of an armistice, and 
directed that hostilities should cease between the Dutch and the Belgians. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 151 

The Belgians having decided upon a constitutional monarchy, first offered 
the crown to the Duke of Nemours, the second son of Louis Philippe, 
but the latter declined the proffered honor on behalf of his son ; after 
which the Belgian Congress elected Leopold, Prince of Saxe-Coburg 
Gotha, for their King. As the Dutch continued to hold the city of 
Antwerp, contrary to the determination of the five great powers, a 
French army of 65,000 men, under Marshal Gerard, entered Belgium in 
November, 1832, and after encountering an obstinate defence compelled 
the surrender of the place on the 24th of December. Since her separa- 
tion from Holland, Belgium has increased rapidly in every industrial 
pursuit and social improvement. 

UNREST IN POLAND. 

By the decrees of the Congress of Vienna most of that part of 
Poland which Napoleon had erected into the Grand Duchy of Warsaw 
and conferred upon his ally the King of Saxony, was re-established as an 
independent kingdom, to be united to the crown of Russia, but with a 
separate constitution and administration ; on the 20th of June, 181 5, the 
Russian Emperor Alexander was proclaimed King of Poland. The mild 
character of Alexander had inspired the Poles with the hopes that he 
would protect them in the enjoyment of their liberties ; but his fine pro- 
fessions soon began to prove delusive ; ere long none but Russians held 
the chief places of government ; the article of the constitution establishing 
liberty of the press was nullified ; publicity of debate in the Polish diet 
was abolished ; and numerous State prosecutions embittered the feeling 
of the Poles against their tyrants. 

On the accession of Nicholas to the throne of Russia, in December, 
1825, although the Lieutenancy of Poland was entrusted to a Pole, yet 
the real power was invested in the King's brother, the Archduke Con- 
stantine, who held the appointment of Commander-in-Chief of the army. 
Constantine proved to be the worst of tyrants — a second Sejanus — 
delighting in every species of judicial iniquity and ministerial cruelty. 
The barbarities of Constantine, sanctioned by Nicholas, revived the old 
spirit of Polish freedom and nationality ; and the successful examples of 
France and Belgium roused the Poles again to action. Secret societies, 
organized for the express purpose of securing the liberty of Poland and 
uniting again under one government those portions that had been torn 



1 82 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

asunder and despoiled by the rapacity of Russia, Prussia and Austria, 
existed not only in Poland proper and Lithuania, but also in Volhynia 
and Podolia, and even in the old provinces of Ukraine, which, it might be 
supposed, had long since lost all recollections of Polish glory. 

OUTBREAK AT WARSAW. 

The fear of detection and arrest on the part of some members of one of 
these societies, led to the first outbreak at Warsaw, on the evening of the 
29th of November, 1830. The students of a military school at Warsaw, 
one hundred and eighty in number, at first attempted to seize Constantine 
at his quarters, two miles from the city ; but during the struggle with his 
attendants, of whom the Russian General Gendre, a man infamous for 
his crimes, was killed, the Duke escaped to his guards, who, being 
attacked in a position from which retreat was difficult, lost three hundred 
of their number, when the students returned to the city, liberated every 
State prisoner, and were joined by the school of the engineers and the 
students of the university. A party entered the only two theatres open, 
calling out, "Women home — men to arms!" The arsenal was next 
forced, and in one hour and a half from the first movement 40,000 men 
were in arms. Constantine fell back to the frontier. Chlopiki was first 
appointed by the provisional government Commander-in-Chief of the 
army of Poland, and afterwards was made Dictator ; but he soon 
resigned, and Adam Czartoriski was appointed President. 

RUSSIANS ROUTED. 

After two months' delay in fruitless attempts to negotiate with the 
Emperor Nicholas, who refused all terms but absolute submission, the 
inevitable conflict began — Russia already having assembled an army of 
200,000 men under the command of Field Marshal Diebitsch, the hero 
of the Turkish war, while the Poles had only 50,000 men equipped for 
the fight. On the 5 th of February, 1831, the Russians crossed the Polish 
frontier ; on the 18th their advanced post were within ten miles of War- 
saw ; and on the 20th a general action was brought on, which resulted 
in the Poles retiring in good order from the field of battle. On the 25th 
40,000 Poles, under Prince Radzvil, withstood the shock of more than 
100,000 of the enemy ; and at the close of the day 10,000 of the Russians 
lay dead on the field, and several thousand prisoners were taken. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 1 83 

Skryznecki, being now appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Polish 
forces, concerted several night attacks for the evening of the 31st, which 
resulted in the total rout of 20,000 Russians and the capture of a vast 
quantity of muskets, cannon and ammunition. These successes were so 
rapidly followed up that before the end of April the Russians were driven 
either across the Bug into their own territories or northward into the 
Prussian dominions. The conduct of Prussia in affording the Russians a 
secure retreat on neutral territory and furnishing them with abundant 
supplies, while in similar cases the Poles were detained as prisoners, 
destroyed all advantages of Polish valor. Austria, likewise, permitted 
the Russians to pass over neutral ground to outflank the Poles, but 
detained the latter as prisoners if they once set foot on Austrian terri- 
tory. Thus Russia and Austria interpreted and enforced the principles 
of the " Holy Alliance." 

THE FALL OF POLAND. 

While the Poles were stationed at Minsk, Skryznecki, uniting all his 
forces in that vicinity, to the number of 20,000, suddenly crossed the Bug 
and forced his way to Ostrolenk, a distance of 80 miles, where, on the 
26th of May, he engaged in battle with 60,000 Russians. The combat 
was terrific ; no quarter was asked and none was given. The Poles, 
led by the heroic General Bern, lost one-fourth of their number. The 
loss of the Russians was less in proportion, but they had three generals 
killed on the field. In the following month both the Russian Com- 
mander-in-Chief, Marshal Diebitsch, and the Archduke Constantine, died 
suddenly. About the same time a conspiracy for setting at liberty all 
the Russian prisoners, 13,000 in number, was detected in Warsaw. 

Dissensions among the Polish chiefs and the want of energetic gov- 
ernment soon produced their natural consequences of divided counsels 
and disunited efforts in the field ; and by the 6th of September, during 
the strife of factions at Warsaw, a Russian army of 100,000 men, sup- 
ported by 300 pieces of cannon, had assembled for the storming of the 
city. Although defended with heroism, after two days' fighting, in which 
the Russians had 20,000 slain, and the Poles about half that number, 
Warsaw surrendered to the Russian general, Paskewitch — the main body 
of the Polish army and the most distinguished citizens retiring from the 
city, and afterwards dispersing when no further hopes remained of serv- 
ing their ill-fated country. Large numbers crossed the frontiers and went 



1 84 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



into voluntary exile in other lands. Most of the Polish generals who 
surrendered under an amnesty were sent to distant parts of the Russian 
Empire ; and the soldiers, and the Polish nobility were consigned by 
thousands to the dungeons and mines of Siberia. 

REFORM LAW IN ENGLAND. 

At the time of the accession of William IV of England, in 1830, a 
Tory ministry, headed by the Duke of Wellington, was in power ; but 
decided sentiment of the nation in favor of reform in all the branches of 
government occasioned its resignation in November of the same year. 
A Whig ministry, pledged for reform, with Earl Grey at its head, then 
came into power; and on the 1st of March of the following year, Lord 
John Russell brought forward in Parliament the ministerial plan for re- 
forming the representation of England, Scotland and Ireland, which, if 
adopted, would extend the right of suffrage to half a million additional 
voters, disfranchise fifty-six of the so-called rotten or decayed boroughs, 
and more nearly equalize representation throughout the kingdom. After 
a long but animated debate, the bill passed a second reading in the 
House of Commons by a majority of only one, but was lost on the 
third reading, the vote being 291 for the bill, and 299 against it. 

By advice of the ministers the King hastily dissolved Parliament, 
and ordered new elections for the purpose of better ascertaining the 
sense of the people. The elections took place amid great excitement, 
and the advocates of reform were returned by nearly all the large con- 
stituencies. The new Parliament was opened on the 14th of June, 1831. 
The reform bill, being again introduced, passed the Commons by a ma- 
jority of 113, but was rejected by the Lords, whose numbers remained 
unchanged, by a majority of 41. The rejection of the bill by the Lords 
led to strong manifestations of popular resentment against the 
nobility ; serious riots occured in Nottingham and Derby ; and at Bristol 
many public buildings and an immense amount of private property were 
destroyed, ninety persons were killed or wounded ; five of the rioters 
were afterwards executed, and many were sentenced to transportation. 

TRIUMPH OF REFORM. 

On the 1 2th of December Lord John Russell a third time introduced 
a reform bill similar to the former two ; and on the 23d of March, 1832, 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



I8 7 



it passed the Commons by a majority of 116, but was defeated in the 
House of Lords by a majority of 40. The ministry now advised the 
King to create a sufficient number of peers to insure the passage of 
the bill ; and on his refusal to proceed to such extremities, all the 
members of the cabinet resigned. Political unions were now formed 
throughout the country. The people determined to refuse payment of 
taxes, and demanded that the ministers should be reinstated. There 
were no riots, but the people had risen in their collective strength, de- 
termined to assert their just rights. The King yielded to the force of 
public opinion, and Earl Grey and his colleagues were reinstated in 
office, with the assurance that, if necessary, a sufficient number of new 
peers should be created to secure the passing of the bill. When the 
Lords were apprised of this fact they withdrew their opposition ; but it 
is worthy of remark that many of them, and all the bishops, left their 
seats on the final passage of the bills, which, having been rapidly hurried 
through both houses, received the royal assent on the 7th of June. 

DOINGS IN VARIOUS LANDS. 

Revolutionary disturbances occurred in 1831 in Modena and the 
Papal States, which were suppressed by Austrian intervention. In that 
year Charles Albert succeeded Charles Felix as King of Sardinia, and 
thus another step was taken toward the ultimate reunion and rehabilita- 
tion of Italy. Gregory XVI was elected Pope in February, 1831. 

The first disturbance in the East after the treaty of Adrianople was 
caused by the ambition of Mehemet Ali, of Egypt. He had received 
the gift of the island of Crete in return for his aid to Turkey against 
Greece, but he soon sought further acquisitions. In 1831 he picked a 
quarrel with the Pacha of Acre and invaded Syria. The Sultan sent an 
army against him, but the Turks were completely routed at Konieh on 
the 2 1 st of December, 1832. Constantinople itself was threatened, and 
the Sultan begged the European powers to save him from the Egyptian 
conqueror. Russia responded, but England and France sided with 
Mehemet Ali. In the end a treaty was concluded by which Mehemet 
was confirmed in his possession of Crete, and was made sovereign of 
Syria under the shadowy suzerainty of the Sultan. Enraged at such 
action by the Western powers, the Sultan at once made the secret treaty 
of Unkiar Skelessi with Russia on the 8th of July, 1833, by which Tur- 



;88 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

key was placed practically under Russian protection, and the Dardanelles 
were to be closed against all but Russian vessels. 

Abd-el-Kader, the great chieftain of Algeria, made peace with 
France and was recognized as Emir of Mascara, in 1834. In 1835 the 
French attacked him and burned Mascara. In 1836 a war between 
them was maintained with varying fortunes, and in 1837 he yielded to 
the French in the treaty of Tafna. 

We must notice, also, an attempt of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, 
a nephew of the Emperor Napoleon, to excite an insurrection at 
Strasbourg, in October, 1836, for the purpose of overthrowing the 
French Government. 

THE CARLIST WAR. 

Ferdinand VII of Spain, having been restored to power by French 
intervention in 1823, was able to finish his reign in comparative peace. 
In 1829 he married his fourth wife, Maria Cristina of Naples, a sister of 
the Duchess of Berry. She was a woman of detestable morals but 
great ability. His former marriages had produced no children, but he 
still hoped for issue, and made a proclamation declaring the Salic law 
abolished in Spain, so that a daughter, should he have one, could succeed 
to the throne. Against this his brothers, Don Carlos and Don Francisco, 
made formal protest, as did also the Bourbon monarchs of Naples and 
France. In 1830 the Queen gave birth to a daughter, Isabella, who was 
forthwith recognized as heir to the throne. During a severe illness the 
King was induced to withdraw his proclamation and re-establish the Salic 
law, but on recovery of his health he was persuaded by his wife to 
renew the proclamation of a Pragmatic Sanction. He died in 1833, an< ^ 
little Isabella was proclaimed Queen, with her mother as Regent. Don 
Carlos at once claimed the crown, as the lawful heir under the Salic law, 
and rallied to his support a large part of the people of Spain, especially 
those of the Basque provinces. In order to defend herself the Queen 
Regent made appeal to the people with a liberal constitution and an 
elected Parliament. Thus began the first of those Carlist wars which 
for many years ravaged and unsettled Spain. At first the Carlists 
were largely victorious through the superiority of their generals ; later 
the Cristinos gained the upper hand through the genius of the ambi- 
tious general, Espartero. 



CHAPTER XV. 



Spanish Attack upon Mexico — Usurpation of Bustamente — Defence of the 
Federal Constitution — Proceedings of Santa Anna— Texas Declared 
Independent — New Grenada, Venezuela and Ecuador — Personal 
Incidents — First Passenger Railway — Exploring the Niger — 
Copyright Reform — Obituary — Slave Insurrection — Events 
Abroad — Girard College Founded — Chastising Savage 
Sumatrians — The Cholera Epidemic — The Death 
Roll — Treaty with Russia — Rioting in the 
United States — Shooting Stars — Necrol- 
ogy — Great Fire in New York — 
Colt's Revolver. 



AT the session of the new Mexican Congress in January, 1829, the 
House of Representatives proclaimed Vincent Guerrero to be 
duly elected President, on the constitutional ground that he had 
the majority of the legal votes. General Bustamente, who had 
been supported by the partisans of Pedraza, was declared to be duly 
elected Vice-President ; and in organizing the new administration, Zavala, 
then Governor of the State of Mexico, was appointed Secretary of State, 
and General Santa Anna Secretary of War. 

USURPATION OF BUSTAMENTE. 

Soon after the declaration of Congress in favor of the election of 
Guerrero, that body passed a resolution investing him with dictatorial 
powers, in anticipation of an invasion by Spain, to recover possession of 
Mexico. The Spanish army of 4500 men, sent for that purpose, were 
defeated, and compelled to retire. The continuance of his extraordinary 
power was now no longer necessary ; yet Guerrero continued to exercise 
it, and in a manner and for purposes not contemplated. This brought upon 
him the censure of Bustamente and others, who saw in his measures a 
desire to perpetuate his dictatorship. Yet, on the 1 1 th of December, 
Guerrero resigned his dictatorship into the hands of Congress, and 

189 



I gO STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

retired to his estate. Bustamente immediately assumed or usurped the 
presidency, pretending that he was actuated solely by a desire to restore 
the constitution, which had been violated in the elevation of Guerrero to 
the presidency. The latter now fled to the mountains, but circumstances, 
in the spring of 1830, seeming to favor an attempt to regain his lost 
authority, he embarked in the enterprise, and the whole country was 
again in arms. He was, however, unsuccessful, and falling into the 
hands of his opponents, he was condemned as a traitor, and executed in 
February, 1831. 

DEFENCE OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 

The measures of Bustamente directly tended towards the establish- 
ment of a strong central government, and those of Guerrero had been in 
favor of a perpetual dictatorship. On the ground of Bustamente's pro- 
cedure in his government, Santa Anna, in 1832, placed himself at the 
head of the garrison of Vera Cruz, and, as a pretext for revolt, demanded 
a re-organization of the Ministry. His declarations were in favor of the 
constitution and the laws, and consequently rallied the friends of the 
federal system to his support. War soon began to rage, and it was not 
until nearly a year that an accommodation was made, when it was agreed 
that Pedraza should be restored to the Government. He was accord- 
ingly restored, and by means of his favorable notice of Santa Anna, and 
now his friend, but formerly his enemy, he exerted such an influence that 
the latter was elected his successor in 1833. Gomez Farias was chosen 
Vice-President. The federal system was now apparently re-established 
under the new administration. 

PROCEEDINGS OF SANTA ANNA. 

From the first moment of Santa Anna's accession to the presidency, 
he was inflamed with a desire for dictatorial power. He seized an oppor- 
tunity to desert the federal republican party and joined the centralist 
faction. By military order he dissolved the Constitutional Congress in 
May, 1834, and in January, 1835, ne assembled a revolutiouary and 
aristocratic Congress, which deposed the Vice-President Farias and 
elected General Barragan, a leading centralist, in his place. About the 
same time, through the influence of Santa Anna, the Constitution of 1824 
was abolished by Congress, as were also all the State Constitutions and 



< ,;., 



■fS'24 



A 2 j 




1825— AMERICAN FASHIONS 





PROFESSOR HUXLEY 



; 



LORD HER5CHEL 





CHARLES DARWIN 



:/"■■■ 




ALEXANDER von HUMBOLDT 



JUSTUS LIEBIG 



1825— GREAT SCIENTISTS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 1 93 

State authorities, and a central republic was established in its place. So 
violent a measure proved unacceptable to several of the States. Zaca- 
tecas submitted,, and declared for centralism. " The torch of liberty was 
now extinguished in the republic, and military despotism fully established." 
No ! it was not quite extinguished. One Mexican Territory, Texas, 
with her 50,000 bold inhabitants, chiefly emigrants from the United 
States, was ready to resist the dictates of a tyrant and usurper. Santa 
Anna felt at once the necessity, if his rule was to be maintained, of 
reducing Texas and of defeating the Americans, or driving them out of 
the country. He made the attempt to do so with an army of 8000 men, 
and at first seemed to be successful. 

On the 23d of February, 1836, he appeared before the town of San 
Antonio, at the head of a body of 1000 men, the advanced guard of the 
Mexican army. The town was immediately taken, but the fort held out, 
although garrisoned by 150 men. A constant bombardment was kept up 
by the besiegers, yet on the 1st of March a detachment of 32 men from 
Gonzales succeeded in forcing their way through the Mexican lines and 
throwing themselves into the fort. The Mexicans were soon reinforced 
to the number of 4500 men, and at midnight of the 6th of March made 
a desperate assault upon the place. The garrison fought desperately 
until daylight, when only seven of them were found alive. These 
were all put to the sword. The Mexicans, it is said, lost a thousand 
men in this affair. 

TEXAS DECLARED INDEPENDENT. 

The Texans, however, were not dispirited by this disaster. On the 
2d of March a general convention, held at the town of Washington, de- 
clared Texas a sovereign and independent State. The Mexican army, 
immediately after the capture of San Antonio, advanced upon Goliad, 
which was garrisoned by a body of 350 men under Colonel Fanning. 
That officer, in obedience to orders from his commander, blew up the 
fort and retreated ; but after marching a few miles he was surrounded in 
a prairie by a body of 2000 Mexicans. Fanning's party defended them- 
selves with great courage, and the Mexican commander proposed a capit- 
ulation. Fanning agreed to the proposal, and surrendered on a stipula- 
tion that his men should be shipped to New Orleans within eight days. 
The Mexicans marched their prisoners off to Goliad, and on the 26th of 



194 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

March shot them all in cold blood, with the exception of four, who 
made their escape. 

General alarm and dismay now pervaded the country, and a great 
many inhabitants sought shelter in American territory. The Indians 
were rising in the North, and the invading army continued to massacre 
all that opposed them. It was found necessary to order a strong force 
of United States troops to the Texan frontier to keep the savages in 
check. The Texan army, which was now commanded by General Hous- 
ton, retreated before Santa Anna, until they reached the river San 
Jacinto, where they made a stand. The Mexicans came up, and on the 
2 1 st of April a most sanguinary and decisive battle was fougnt at this 
place. The Mexicans were double in strength to their opponents, yet the 
attack of the Texans was made with such courage and fury that in fifteen 
minutes the Mexicans were completely routed ; 600 of them were killed 
on the spot, and as many more taken prisoners. Of the Texans, 26 were 
killed and wounded. Santa Anna fled from the field, and was pursued 
fifteen miles by the Texan mounted riflemen, when his horse foundered 
and he took shelter in the woods. Here, after a long search, he was 
found hidden in the top of a tree, and made prisoner. 

Santa Anna was compelled to sign a treaty by which tne Mexican 
troops were withdrawn from Texas, and agreed not to serve against that 
country during the war of independence. Santa Anna, after some deten- 
tion occasioned by the exasperated feelings of the people against him, 
was set at liberty and proceeded to Washington. President Jackson fur- 
nished him with a passage to Vera Cruz in a ship of war of the 
United States. The independence of Texas seems to have been perma- 
nently established by the victory of San Jacinto. The United States 
formally recognized it on the 3d of March, 1837, and Great Britain on 
the 1 6th of November, 1840. 

NEW GRENADA, VENEZUELA AND ECUADOR. 

On the 4th of May, 1830, Senor Joachim Mosquera was elected 
President, and General Domingo Caicedo, Vice-President ; but on the 
4th of September Mosquera resigned, and Urdanata was appointed tem- 
porary President until the arrival of Bolivar, whose return to power was 
decreed by a meeting of soldiers and citizens ; but Bolivar died at Car- 
thagena, December 17th, the same year. Venezuela again joined 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 1 95 

Colombia for a short time; but in November, 1831, a new separation 
took place, and since that time the Republic of Colombia was divided 
into three republics, viz. : New Grenada, Venezuela, and Ecuador. Sub- 
sequently New Grenada assumed the name of the United States of Co- 
lombia, or simply Colombia, which latter it now retains. 

PERSONAL INCIDENTS. 

Pope Leo XII died in February, 1829, and in March was succeeded 
by Pius VIII. This year also witnessed the death of Frederich von 
Schlegel, the great German author, critic and philosopher ; of Thomas 
Young, the English scientist and Egyptologist ; of Sir Humphrey 
Davy, the scientist and inventor of the famous miners' safety lamp 
which bears his name ; and of Lamarck, the French scientist. 

We have elsewhere spoken of the organization of the strange com- 
munity of Mormons. It was in 1830 that the Mormon Church was for- 
mally founded, by Joseph Smith, at Manchester, N. Y. 

The year 1830 was marked with the death of the new Pope, Pius 
VIII, in November. His successor, Gregory XVI, was not elected until 
February of the following year. 

Dom Pedro I of Brazil abdicated in favor of his son, Dom Pedro II, 
in 1 83 1. 

FIRST PASSENGER RAILWAY. 

The earliest railroads in both England and America were used for 
the transportation of freight, especially of stone and coal. Their utility 
for such purposes having been established, the next step was to put 
them to use for the conveyance of passengers. The first to be thus 
used was the road between Manchester and Liverpool, in England. 
This was formally opened for travel in 1830, and at that time the era 
of passenger transportation by steam railroads may be said to have 
begun. It was not long before passenger railroads were opened in 
the United States. Indeed, it was accomplished in that same year, 
1830, and in that year, too, the first locomotive was manufactured in 
this country. 

EXPLORING THE NIGER. 

For some time the brothers Lander, Englishmen, had been conduct- 
ing explorations in the west-central parts of Africa. In the year 1830 
they succeeded in positively establishing the identity of the Quorra and 



!g6 story of one hundred years. 

Niger rivers. Their work in that region aided materially in the open- 
ing up of it to commerce, and laid the foundations of what is now an im- 
portant British Empire in the Niger basin. 

Meantime Arctic exploration proceeded apace, and in 1831 Captain 
John Ross, with his expedition under the patronage of Felix Booth, as- 
certained definitely the precise location of the magnetic pole, appropri- 
ately naming the land Boothia Felix. 

At about the same time the source of the Mississippi River was 
discovered in Lake Itasca, 2800 miles from the river's mouth at the 
Gulf of Mexico. 

COPYRIGHT REFORM. 

The year 1831 was made memorable to authors and publishers by 
the adoption of a new law in the United States granting copyright for a 
term of twenty-eight years, with a renewal for fourteen years. 

A few years later, in 1837, agitation for international copyright was 
begun in the United States, chiefly at Boston, where a number of note- 
worthy public meetings were held in the interest of the proposed reform. 
The movement spread to Great Britain, and to the Continent ; and 
Prussia was, in 1837, the first of all nations to enact an international 
copyright law. 

OBITUARY. 

James Monroe, who had been President of the United States, died 
in 1 83 1, and, by a strange coincidence already noted in the cases of 
Jefferson and Adams, on July 4th. 

The same year witnessed the death of Niebuhr, the great German 
scholar and historian ; and of Hegel, one of the foremost philosophers 
of his age. 

SLAVE INSURRECTION. 

In the month of August, 1831, a slave insurrection of considerable 
local importance broke out in Southampton County, Va. It was origi- 
nated by a crazy sort of vagrant nicknamed " Nat," who had passed 
among the negroes for some time as a Baptist preacher. His repu- 
tation for piety, or fanaticism, had so imposed upon the planters that the 
wonder only was his influence had not been greater, and the struggle 
consequently more fierce and bloody. The number of whites massacred 
on rising was fifty-eight — consisting principally of decrepit men, women 
and children. The blacks then fled to the swamps, apparently terrified 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 1 97 

at their own atrocities ; and were presently subdued with but little diffi- 
culty, yielding up their leaders to the gallows. 

EVENTS ABROAD. 

Abroad, the American minister at the French court, William C. 
Rives, this year effected a treaty with that nation, by the terms of which 
25,000,000 of francs wr.re agreed to be paid to tne American Govern- 
ment, in appropriate instalments, for spoliations upon commerce during 
the turbulent sway of the Emperor Napoleon. 

With the Neapolitan Government we had negotiated in vain previ- 
ous to this year, for an amicable adjustment of claims against it for the 
sequestration and plunder of American property during the ephemeral 
reign of Joachim Murat. The sudden appearance in the Bay of Naples 
of a respectable number of armed United States' vessels, however, 
together with a peremptory demand from General Jackson's minister, 
Mr. Nelson, of Maryland, seemed to bring His Majesty of the Two 
Sicilies to reason. An order was directly given upon his treasurer for 
the payment of 2,115,000 ducats, or $1,720,000, to be paid in nine 
equal instalments, with interest at the rate of 4 per centum until paid. 

GIRARD COLLEGE FOUNDED. 

Stephen Girard, the great Philadelphia banker, died in December of 
this year. At the time of his death he was supposed to be the richest 
man in the nation — possessing about ten millions of dollars in avail- 
able funds. In the war of 181 2-14 he loaned the United States Gov- 
ernment $5,000,000 ; and at the time of his death, with a praiseworthy 
liberality but little emulated by his trustees since, devised the great 
mass of his property to various charitable institutions and purposes in 
and near the city of Philadelphia. His best-known benefaction was the 
foundation of Girard College, a great educational institution for poor 
boys. 

CHASTISING SAVAGE SUMATRIANS, 

On February 1st, 1832, Commodore Downes, in the United States 
frigate "Potomac," arrived on the coast of Sumatra, being principally 
Gil an expedition to chastise a horde of Malay savages for certain out- 
rages upon Americans and their commerce. Among other charges 
against them was one on account of the ship " Friendship," of Salem. 



!q8 story of one hundred years. 

It appears this vessel had formerly traded with them for spices, etc., 
when, on a convenient occasion occurring-, the barbarians determined 
upon appropriating to themselves the ship and its contents, after an in- 
discriminate massacre of the crew, by which they vainly hoped to hide 
their crime. When the chiefs were applied to for restitution in this 
case, and the delivery of the murderers, they with characteristic cupidity 
denied all knowledge of the matter and refused to give any kind of sat- 
isfaction. Commodore Downes took prompt and efficient steps directly. 
In the night of the 6th his frigate was quietly worked in toward shore, 
and at dawn of day, in the mist, 260 men were landed in deiachments, 
without disturbing the natives. A simultaneous attack was made upon 
their five forts, which were in about three hours reduced, with much 
slaughter on the part of the Malays ; while a heavy cannonade from 
the ship at the same time soon laid their town of Quallah Battoo in 
ashes. The loss of the Americans was but two killed, and eight or ten 
wounded. A few mountaineers visited the frigate shortly after, when 
the commodore left word that he should call there again — if necessary. 

THE CHOLERA EPIDEMIC. 

The cholera pestilence in 1832 ravaged the entire Union. It ap^ 
pears to have crossed the Atlantic with a company of emigrants in 
ships bound to Quebec and Montreal, from thence spreading quickly in 
every direction, though mainly and with most severity pursuing the great 
courses of travel. It broke out in several cities of the United States at 
about the same time, in the month of July, and raged until autumn set 
in. In the city of New York 4000 persons are computed to have fallen 
its victims. Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, and New Orleans suf- 
fered in nearly the same ratio, in defiance of all the usual precautionary 
measures. Boston and the New England States were scourged less 
severely. On the American Continent nothing but the frosts of winter 
appeared effectually to arrest its progress ; yet, amid the everlasting 
snows of Russia, it had manifested itself with true Asiatic virulence. 
Climate seemed to be no safeguard, nor ocean-wide barriers any de- 
fence. In mild southern France the number of its victims was frightfully 
enormous ; in the cities of Mexico one-fourth of the population was de- 
stroyed ; and on the island of Cuba $100,000,000 worth of slaves are 
said to have perished in less than ninety days. It is stated that on this 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 1 99 

island the coffee-planters mostly escaped the affliction, while the neigh- 
boring sugar plantations were completely depopulated. 

THE DEATH ROLL. 

Death, in various forms, visited the great names of the earth, in the 
course of 1832. In New York, of the prevailing epidemic, died William 
H. Maynard, eminent as a State Senator, who left by his will the sum of 
$20,000 to establish a law professorship in Hamilton College. In Boston, 
the celebrated Doctor Spurzheim, founder, in connection with Doctor 
Gall, of the science of phrenology. In Ohio, the Rt. Rev. Roman 
Catholic Bishop Fenwick. In Georgia, Thomas Cobb, a revolutionary 
character, aged 120. In Maryland, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, the 
last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. In New 
Hampshire, Captain Joseph Pratt, a naval commander of much esteem 
in the annals of revolutionary coasting. In Rhode Island, Captain 
Stephen Olney, of whom it is said, he was the first to scale the enemy's 
fortification, and then shout the command, "Captain Olney's company 
will form here ! " In New Jersey, Philip Freneau, an early and prolific 
writer of American fugitive poetry. In Connecticut, Judge Hillhouse, a 
distinguished statesman and lawyer. At Abbottsford, Great Britain, Sir 
Walter Scott, "the wizard of the north." In London, Baron Tenterden, 
Chief-justice of the King's Bench. In France, General Lamarque, one of 
Napoleon's officers. Also, Champollion, the renowned French tourist — 
and Casimir Perier, a statesman of celebrity in Paris. In Rome, Madame 
Letitia, mother of Bonaparte. At the palace of Schoenbrunn, near 
Vienna, Napoleon Francis Charles Joseph, Duke of Reichstadt, only son 
of Napoleon Bonaparte. To this roll must be added the names of 
Cuvier, the great French naturalist ; Goethe, the greatest of German 
poets ; and Bentham, the social philosopher. 

The necrology of 1833 included Commodore Bainbridge, at Phila- 
delphia. General Coffee, at Florence, Alabama. Governor Scott, of 
Mississippi. Ex-Governors Wolcott, of Connecticut ; Skinner, of Ver- 
mont ; and Edwards, of Illinois. John Randolph, of Roanoke, in Phila- 
delphia. Judge Hall, of North Carolina, a distinguished jurist. Colonel 
Amos Binney, of Massachusetts. Colonel John Neilson, of New Jersey, 
and Colonel Nicholas Fish, of New York, revolutionary heroes. Near 
the mouth of Red River, by explosion on the steamboat "Lioness," 



200 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

Senator Johnson, of Louisiana, and fourteen others ; strange to relate 
this said occurrence did not take place on account of a race, but was 
owing to a quantity of gunpowder being stowed carelessly. In England, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton, the indefatigable Tory opponent of Sumpter 
and Marion, at the South. Also Hannah More, the authoress ; Wilber- 
force, the humanitist ; Keane, the actor ; and Rammohun Roy, the 
philosopher. In Paris, Marshal Jourdan, and Savary, Duke of Rovigo, 
noted once as Bonapartists. In Spain, Ferdinand VII. 

TREATY WITH RUSSIA. 

In 1833 were promulgated the particulars of a treaty between the 
United States and Russia, which was negotiated at St. Petersburg 
between Count Nesselrode, on the part of the Emperor, and James 
Buchanan, in behalf of the States. By its provisions the present liberal 
system of commerce carried on between the two nations was put upon a 
permanent basis. 

RIOTING IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The year 1834 was marked in the United States with an unusual 
tendency to rioting. Small matters seem in various sections to have been 
magnified into importance, and the populace incited to acts which 
resulted in the destruction of life and property. At New Orleans a 
canal riot broke out between adverse parties of Irish laborers ; a body of 
gens d'armes being sent to quell the disturbance, were fired upon by the 
mob, which was in turn charged on by the police, when much bloodshed 
and distress ensued. In New York the abolition riots prevailed for 
several days ; a number of churches and private dwellings were destroyed, 
with a large amount of property. In Charlestown, Massachusetts, the 
Ursuline Convent was barbarously demolished. 

That a better spirit was about that time pervading the higher class 
of citizens, we have much satisfaction in knowing ; the evidence of this 
is particularly apparent in an energetic movement to suppress the pre- 
valent pernicious practice of lottery-gambling. In New York and Penn- 
sylvania, more especially, popular feeling had been manifested in favor 
of the nuisance, to a very discreditable degree ; but the good sense of 
the law-makers triumphed, and, despite the infatuation of the brawlers, 
effectual penal prohibitory statutes were enacted. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 201 

SHOOTING STARS. 

The savans of this hemisphere were subject to an unusual excite- 
ment about the month of November, 1834. In the previous autumn an 
astronomical phenomenon of an astonishing and singularly beautiful 
character had been witnessed ; the ' shower of stars," as it was termed, 
had been seen along the whole line of the American Continent, and 
afforded ample food for much curious conjecture with the learned, both 
of this country and Europe. A recurrence of the phenomenon was now 
looked for, and there were nightly watchers on many house-tops, anxious 
either for the sake of philosophy in particular or an indefinite desire for 
"enlightenment" in general. The professors at Yale College were 
applied to, and after devoting a reasonable share of attention to the 
probabilities of the case, consented to deputize a proper individual to 
make observations ; but their assiduity was of no avail, as it did not 
result in any peculiarly valuable scientific elucidations 

NECROLOGY. 

In the obituary fcr 1834 appears a name which still shines brilliant 
in American annals — that of General the Marquis de Lafayette, deceased 
at Paris, May 20th, in the 76th year of his age. In England, Prince 
Hoare, Charles Lamb and S. T. Coleridge, each of celebrity for literary 
attainments. In Germany, Schliermacher, the great preacher, theologian 
and philosopher. 

GREAT FIRE IN NEW YORK, 

Near the end of the year 1835 an unparalleled conflagration visited 
the city of New York, the effects of which were so extensive as to be felt 
more or less in every direction throughout the land. It is computed that 
nearly $20,000,000 worth of property was destroyed, without estimating 
the injury and loss from individual failures and suspension of business. 
The fire broke out early on the night of the 16th of December, the ther- 
mometer at the time standing at zero ; of course the intensity of cold 
rendered engines and hydrants of but little use, though the devotion of 
firemen to their duties still shone conspicuous and bright as ever. At 
two o'clock on the morning of the 1 7th, Lieutenant Reynolds, with a 
detachment of marines from the Navy Yard at Brooklyn, and shortly 
after Captain Mix, with a body of sailors under arms, arrived on the 



202 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

ground ; they rendered very essential service in guarding property and 
taking charge of a quantity of gunpowder brought from the magazine at 
Red Hook for the purpose of stopping the ravages of the flames by 
explosion. After the devouring element had swept away between thirty 
and forty acres of substantial buildings, mostly stores filled with rich 
merchandise, a stop was put to the further spread of desolation by 
making use of the powder and exploding certain buildings. As an 
instance of one of the uses of law, it may be mentioned that the owners 
of said exploded buildings subsequently brought suit against the city for 
allowing their property to be thus destroyed, and damages in full were 
recovered. 

COLT'S REVOLVER. 

Colonel Samuel Colt, of Hartford, Conn., in 1835, obtained a patent 
for his invention of a revolving pistol, and thus marked a new era in the 
history of firearms and of the arts of war. 

In that same year the considerable migration of Dutch settlers from 
Cape Colony, known as the Great Trek, began, and led to the foundation 
of the Orange River Free State and the Transvaal. 

A literary incident of the first magnitude in 1836 was the appear- 
ance of Charles Dickens' " Pickwick Tapers." 

Ex-President Madison and A. L. de Jussieu, the French botanist, 
died in 1836. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Martin Van Buren becomes President of the United States — The Great 

Panic — Continuance of the War in Florida — Internal Improve- ' 

ments — Difficulties in the State of Maine — Incidents of the 

Administration — Changes of Opinion Among the People 

— An Exciting Campaign. 



A 



NDREW JACKSON was succeeded, in 1837, by Martin Van 
Buren, who had held the office of Vice-President the preceding 
four years, and who, in his administration, continued the same 
general policy as that of his predecessor. 



THE GREAT PANIC. 

In the spring of this year (1837) commenced the greatest commer- 
cial revulsion ever known in this country. A spirit of extravagant 
speculation had, for some years, prevailed ; a multitude of State banks 
had been chartered, by means of which there was a great expansion of 
paper currency ; numerous and very expensive public works, as canals, 
railroads, etc., were undertaken by States and incorporated companies ; 
immense importations of foreign goods were made ; and real estate, 
especially in cities and villages, was raised far above its intrinsic value. 
At length the crisis came, with tremendous effect. The panic extended 
throughout the entire country, and all confidence and all credit were 
at an end. 

On the 10th of May, all the banks in the city of New York sus' 
pended specie payment ; and the suspension soon became general 
throughout the country. The mercantile classes were subjected to the 
greatest embarrassments, and failures were numerous in all the com- 
mercial cities. In the city of New York alone, the list of failures, 
including only the more considerable ones, exhibited an amount of 
upwards of $60,000,000. 

The national government became involved in the general embar- 
rassment, inasmuch as the banks in which the public deposits were 

203 



204 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

placed, had, like the rest, suspended specie payment. In this state of 
affairs, the President convoked an extra session of Congress, to meet on 
the 4th of September. Congress passed an act postponing, to the 1st 
of January, 1839, the payment to the States of the fourth instalment of 
the surplus revenue, and authorized an issue of treasury notes to the 
amount of $10,000,000, to be receivable in payment of public dues. A 
bill for placing the public money in the hands of receivers-general, called 
the Sub-Treasury or Independent Treasury Bill, was recommended by 
the President, and passed the Senate, but was lost in the House. This 
bill, after repeated failures, was finally passed and enacted into a law in 
June, 1840. In August, 1838, the banks throughout the country gen- 
erally resumed specie payment. 

In 1837, a rebellion against the British government broke out in 
Canada. It was sustained by some men of talents and influence, and 
disturbed the peace of that country through the following year (1838). 
A considerable number of citizens of the United States, belonging to 
the parts of Vermont and New York which border on Canada, unhap- 
pily took part with the insurgents. Their course was condemned by the 
general government ; and the President issued a proclamation, exhorting 
such citizens of the United States, as had violated their duties, to return 
peaceably to their respective homes, and warning them that the laws 
would be rigidly enforced against such as should render themselves 
liable to punishment. 

CONTINUANCE OF THE WAR IN FLORIDA. 

The Indian war in Florida continued to be prosecuted during the 
administration of President Van Buren. Large sums of money were 
expended in maintaining it. $3,500,000 had been appropriated on its 
account, during the years 1836 and 1837, under General Jackson; and 
at the extra session in October, 1S37, $1,600,000 were appropriated; 
and in 1838, the expenses for supporting the war in that quarter against 
the Indians, amounted to as large a sum as in either of the two preced- 
ing years. " When the difficulty arose with these Indians, President 
Jackson supposed that it would soon be terminated. And no one, at 
that time, had any reason to suppose that it would continue for years, 
and have cost the government $8,000,000 or $10,000,000. Other 
measures than those of force would, probably, have terminated the 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 205 

difficulty at an early period. It would certainly have saved many 
valuable lives now lost to the country, and been far more satisfactory to 
the friends of humanity throughout the Union." 

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 

During Mr. Van Buren's administration, large sums were appro- 
priated for internal improvements, although the President was generally 
opposed to the policy. The expenditures were, however, for purposes 
which the advocates of State rights, for the most part, believed to be 
legitimate, such as repairs on the Cumberland road and its continuance 
through the States of Indiana and Illinois ; for light-houses, life-boats, 
buoys, and monuments, in behalf of the interests of navigation. In 
reference to these objects, there was always far more agreement among 
the different parties in Congress, than in reference to anything that 
seemed less essential to the nation's benefit. 

DIFFICULTIES IN THE STATE OF MAINE. 

The North-eastern boundary had long been a source of difficulty 
between the United States and England. The question had seemed on 
the eve of a decision by arms between the British authorities in New 
Brunswick and the State of Maine. Armed bands had been sent out on 
both sides to the territory in dispute. General Scott had been sent to 
the scene of contention by the President, and the so-called Aroostook 
war, through the General's exertions, was, for the time, quieted, yet not 
settled. The danger attending this state of things induced Mr. Van 
Buren, on the 26th of February, 1839, to communicate to Congress a 
message on this subject, which resulted in an act of Congress, giving 
the President additional power for the defence of the country, in certain 
cases, against invasion, or any attempt on the part of Great Britain to 
exercise exclusive jurisdiction over the disputed territory. 

He was authorized, in this event, to accept the services of any 
number of volunteers, not exceeding 50,000. The sum of $10,000,000 
was appropriated for the President to employ in executing the provisions 
of this act. At the same time, an appropriation was made for the send- 
ing of a special minister to England, should it be expedient in the 
opinion of the President. 



2o6 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

INCIDENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION- 

In Mr. Van Buren's time the anti-slavery agitation increased 
steadily. One tragic incident of it was the martyrdom of Lovejoy, an 
anti-slavery editor, in Illinois, at the hands of a pro-slavery mob. The 
Territory of Iowa was formed. Chicago was incorporated as a city. 
The famous Indian chief, Osceola, was finally captured. And on the 
whole, it was a period of much political and other activity. 

The rise of Mormonism demands brief notice. One Joseph Smith 
'made public a book, known as the Book of Mormon, which he declared 
had been revealed to him supernaturally. Adopting this as a new Bible, 
he organized a religious sect, which attempted, in 1840, to make a 
settlement at Nauvoo, Illinois. The principles and practices of the 
Mormons were objectionable to their neighbors, and in 1844 the colony 
was forcibly broken up and expelled, and Smith himself was killed. The 
Mormons, under the leadership of Brigham Young, then made their way 
far into the western wilderness and established a new colony on the 
Great Salt Lake Valley in Utah. 

CHANGES OF OPINION AMONG THE PEOPLE. 

Although the President, during his visit to his native State in the 
summer of 1839, ^ or tne ^ rst ^ me smce ^' ls inauguration, was every- 
where greeted with enthusiasm by his political friends, and with great 
personal respect by his opponents, yet it was evident that the political 
horizon wore a different aspect from what it formerly had done. The 
derangement of the currency and prostration of trade, attributed 
by many to the mal-administration of government, had caused great 
political changes. Of the representatives in the Twenty-Sixth Congress, 
there were one hundred and nineteen Democrats and one hundred and 
eighteen Whigs, leaving out of view five representatives from New 
Jersey, whose seats were contested. After several fierce debates, the 
Democratic members from this State were admitted. 

Mr. Van Buren, in 1840, being a candidate for re-election, failed to 
carry the suffrages of the people. The great political changes, from 
causes already intimated, as shown in the State elections, gave, at the 
outset, but little hope of his success. 

AN EXCITING CAMPAIGN. 

The last year of Mr. Van Buren's administration was marked with 
the most exciting political campaign the country had yet known. The 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 207 

Democrats renominated him. The Whigs put forward William Henry 
Harrison as their candidate, and a third party, known as the Liberty 
Party, was also in the field. Harrison was the hero of the battle of 
Tippecanoe, and was popularly called " Old Tippecanoe," and log 
cabins and jugs of hard cider, in reference to his humble mode of life, 
were used as the emblems of the campaign. In the end, Harrison was 
elected. Never before had greater activity been manifested by the 
leading political parties of the nation. The country had been convulsed 
with the strife for many months. The whole political press had exerted 
its utmost influences on the one side or the other, and that, in many 
instances, in the most unscrupulous manner. Considerations of great 
interest and importance were urged by the respective parties ; much 
truth was uttered and widely disseminated, but more falsehood and 
detraction. Popular meetings — in numbers, character, and enthusiasm, 
never before assembled on the American soil for this or any other 
purpose — were held towards the conclusion of the political contest in 
every State, and in almost every county. The most distinguished men 
in the nation addressed thousands and tens of thousands, by night and 
by day. Said an eminent statesmen, on one occasion, " If, on the occur- 
rence of our Presidential elections in future, our contests must be so 
severe, so early begun, and so long continued, human nature will fail. 
The energies of man are not equal to the conflict." 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Accession of Queen Victoria — Insurrection in Canada — Suppression of 
the Insurgents — Indemnity in Canada — Outbreak in Acadie — Persian 
Invasion of Afghanistan — The Chartist Agitation — Attempt to 
Burn Sheffield — Marriage of Queen Victoria — The Opium 
War — Hostilities at Macao — Destruction of Chinese 
Fleet — Attempt to Assassinate Queen Victoria — Louis 
Napoleon at Boulogne — Remains of Bonaparte 
Brought Home — The British Princess- 
Royal— Turkish Affairs— Fall of 
Acre — Terms of Peace. 



KING WILLIAM IV, of England, died on June 20, 1837, and 
intelligence of the fact having been officially communicated to his 
niece and successor, the Princess Victoria, and her mother, the 
Duchess of Kent, at Kensington Palace, preparations were 
immediately made for holding a Privy Council at eleven o'clock. A 
temporary throne was erected for the occasion, and on the Queen being 
seated the Lord Chancellor administered to Her Majesty the usual oath, 
that she would govern the kingdom according to the laws, customs, etc. 
The Cabinet Ministers and other Privy Councillors then present took the 
oath of allegiance and supremacy ; and the Ministers having first resigned 
their seals of office, Her Majesty was graciously pleased to return them, 
and they severally kissed hands on their re-appointment. 

By the death of William IV the crowns of the United Kingdom and 
Hanover were dissevered through the operation of the Salic law exclud- 
ing females from the Hanoverian throne, which consequently descended 
to the next heir, the Duke of Cumberland ; and Adelaide, as Queen 
Dowager, was entitled to ,£100,000 per annum, settled upon her for life 
in 1 83 1, with Marlborough house and Bushy house for residences. 

INSURRECTION IN CANADA. 

For some time there had been symptoms of discontent in Lower 
Canada, fomented by the old French party, which at length broke out 

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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 2 1 1 

into the appearance of a civil war. To check an evil so pregnant with 
mischief, it was deemed advisable that no ordinary person should be sent 
out to that important colony. Accordingly, it was notified that the Earl 
of Durham, G. C. B., was appointed Governor-General of "all Her 
Majesty's provinces within and adjacent to the Continent of North 
America, and Her Majesty's high commissioner for the adjustment of 
certain important affairs affecting the provinces of Lower and Upper 
Canada." His Lordship did not arrive in Canada till nearly the end of 
May, 1838. Actual contests had taken place between considerable 
parties of the insurgents and the troops under Lieutenant-Colonel 
Wetherall, who had succeeded in driving them from all the villages on 
the line of the Richelieu River. At length, on the 13th of December, 
Sir John Colborne himself marched from Montreal to attack the chief 
post of the rebels at the Grand Brule. On the following day an engage- 
ment took place in the church-yard of St. Eustache, when the Loyalist 
army proved once more victorious, 80 of the enemy having been killed 
and 120 taken prisoners. Dr. J. O. Chenier, their leader, was slain, and 
the town was more than half burned down. On the 15th, on Sir John 
Colborne's approach to the town of St. Benoit, a great portion of the 
inhabitants came out bearing a white flag and begging for mercy, but in 
consequence of the great disloyalty of the place, and the fact of the 
principal leaders having been permitted to escape, some of their houses 
were fired as an example. Dr. Wilfred Nelson, one of the rebel leaders, 
having been nine days concealed in the woods, was brought in prisoner 
to Montreal. In the Upper Province a body of rebels, which occupied a 
position about three miles from Toronto, threatening that city, were 
successfully attacked and dispersed on the 7th of December by Sir 
Francis Bond Head, at the head of the armed citizens, with such rein- 
forcements as had spontaneously joined them from the country. The 
rebels had, however, established a camp on Navy Island, on the Niagara 
River, and many citizens of the United States were implicated in the 
insurrectionary movements there and elsewhere on the frontier. 

SUPPRESSION OF THE INSURGENTS. 

On the 3d of March, 1838, a sharp engagement took place between 
Her Majesty's troops and the insurgents, in which the latter were totally 
defeated at Point Pele Island, near the western boundary of the British 

12 



212 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

possessions. This island had been occupied by about 500 men, well 
armed and equipped ; when Colonel Maitland, in order to dispossess 
them, marched from Amherstburgh with a few companies of the 32d and 
83d regiments, two six-pounders and some volunteer cavalry. The 
action that followed assumed the character of bush-fighting — the island, 
which is about seven miles long, being covered with thicket, and the 
pirates outnumbered the troops in the proportion of nearly two to one. 
Ultimately, however, they were driven to flight, leaving among the dead, 
Colonel Bradley, the Commander-in-Chief; Major Howdley and Captain 
Van Rensellaer and McKeon, besides a great many wounded and other 
prisoners. The insurgents being thus foiled in their daring attempt, it 
is not necessary, for the present, for us to allude further to Canadian 
affairs than to observe that some of the most active ringleaders were 
executed, and others transported to the island of Bermuda. 

INDEMNITY IN CANADA. 

Lord Durham had been sent out with extraordinary powers to meet 
the exigency of affairs in Canada. It was now admitted that he had 
exceeded the scope of those powers by deciding on the guilt of accused 
men without trial, and by banishing and imprisoning them ; but the 
British Ministers thought it their duty to acquiesce in passing a bill, 
which, while it recited the illegality of the ordinance issued by his lord- 
ship, should indemnify those who had advised or acted under it, on the 
score of their presumed good intentions. The ordinance set forth that 
"Wilfred Nelson, R. S. M. Bouchette and others, now in Montreal jail, 
having acknowledged their treasons and submitted themselves to the 
will and pleasure of Her Majesty, shall be transported to the island of 
Bermuda, not to return on pain of death ; and the same penalty is to be 
incurred by Papineau, and others who have absconded, if found at large 
in the province." Government had intended merely to substitute a 
temporary legislative power during the suspension of and in substitution 
for the ordinary legislature ; and as the ordinary legislature would not 
have had power to pass such an ordinance, it was argued that neither 
could this power belong to the substituted authority. 

The passing of the indemnity act made a great sensation as soon as 
it was known in Canada ; and Lord Durham, acutely feeling that his 
implied condemnation was contained in it, declared his intention to resign 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 213 

and return immediately to England, inasmuch as he was now deprived of 
the ability to do the good which he had hoped to accomplish. 

OUTBREAK IN ACADIE. 

Meanwhile the Canadas again became the scene of rebellious war 
and piratical invasion. The rebels occupied Beauharnois and Acadie, 
near the confluence of the Richelieu and the St. Lawrence, establishing 
their headquarters at Napierville ; and their forces mustered, at one time, 
to the number 8000 men, generally well armed. Several actions took 
place ; and Sir John Colborne, who had proclaimed martial law, concen- 
trated his troops at Napierville and Chateauguay, and executed a severe 
vengeance upon the rebels whom he found there, burning the houses of 
the disaffected through the whole district of Acadie. But it was a part 
of the plan of the traitors and their republican confederates to distract 
the attention of the British commander and to divide the military force by 
invading Upper Canada ; and at the moment Sir John Colborne was 
putting the last hand to the suppression of the rebellion in Beauharnois 
and Acadie, 800 republican pirates embarked in two schooners at 
Ogdensburgh, fully armed and provided with six or eight pieces of 
artillery, to attack the town of Prescott on the opposite side of the river. 
By the aid of two United States steamers they effected a landing a mile 
or two below the town, where they established themselves in a windmill 
and some stone buildings, and repelled the first attempt made to dislodge 
them, killing and wounding 45 of their assailants, among whom were five 
officers ; but on Colonel Dundas arriving with a reinforcement of regular 
troops, with three pieces of artillery, they surrendered at discretion. 
Some other skirmishes subsequently took place, chiefly between Ameri- 
can desperadoes, who invaded the British territory, and the Queen's 
troops ; but the former were severely punished for their temerity. The 
conduct of Sir John Colborne elicited the praise of all parties at home ; 
and he was appointed Governor-General of Canada, with all the powers 
which had been vested in the Earl of Durham. 

PERSIAN INVASION OF AFGHANISTAN. 

For a considerable time past the Government of India had been 
adopting very active measures, in consequence of the Shah of Persia, 
who was raised to the throne mainly by British assistance, being supposed 



2 14 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

to be acting under Russian influence, to the prejudice of this country. 
Stimulated by Russia, as it appeared, the Persian undertook, in 1837, 
an expedition to Herat, an important place, to which a small principality 
was attached, in the territory of Afghanistan. Lord Auckland, the 
Governor-General of India, thereupon determined to send an army of 
30,000 men toward Candahar, Cabul and Herat ; and this force was to 
be joined by Runjeet Singh, the sovereign of the Punjaub. In the mean- 
time it appeared that the Persians had suffered great loss at Herat. It 
was soon afterwards rumored that the Chiefs of Afghanistan were pre- 
pared to meet a much stronger force than the Anglo-Indian Government, 
though reinforced by Runjeet Singh, could bring into the field, and that 
they would listen to no terms of accommodation. The next accounts, 
however, announced that the British had entered Candahar ; that the 
difficulties experienced with respect to provisions had vanished, and that 
the troops were received with open arms. Shah Soojah was crowned 
with acclamation, and the army proceeded forthwith to Cabul. 

On the 2 1 st of September the fort of Joudpore, in Rajpootana, sur- 
rendered to the British ; and that of Kurnaul, in the Decan, on the 6th 
of October. The camp of the Rajah was attacked by General Willshire, 
which ended in the total rout of the enemy. A very great quantity of 
military stores were found in Kurnaul, and treasure amounting to nearly 
;£i, 000,000. In the camp an immense quantity of jewels were captured, 
besides ,£150,000 in specie. The Shah of Persia consented to acknowl- 
edge Shah Soojah as Ameer of Afghanistan ; but Dost Mahomed, the 
deposed Prince, was still at large, and there was no doubt that a widely 
ramified conspiracy existed among the native chiefs to rise against the 
British on the first favorable opportunity. 

THE CHARTIST AGITATION. 

Great Britain was much disturbed during the years 1839-40 by 
large and tumultuous assemblages of the people, of a revolutionary 
character, under the name of Chartists ; and many excesses were com- 
mitted by them in the large manufacturing towns of Manchester, Bolton, 
Birmingham, Stockport, etc., that required the strong arm of the law to 
Curb. This was alluded to in Her Majesty's speech at the close of the 
Session of Parliament, as the first attempts at insubordination, which 
happily had been checked by the fearless administration of the law. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 21 7 

On the 10th of December, 1839, a special commission was held at 
Monmouth for the trial of the Chartist rebels at Newport, before Lord- 
Chief-Justice Tindal and the Judges Park and Williams ; the Chief Justice 
opening the proceedings with a luminous and eloquent charge to the 
Grand Jury. Accordingly, on the 12th, true bills were returned against 
John Frost, Charles Waters, James Aust, William Jones, John Lovell, 
Zephaniah Williams, Jenkin Morgan, Solomon Britton, Edmond 
Edmonds, Richard Benfield, John Rees, David Jones and John Terner 
(otherwise Coles), for high treason. In order to comply with the forms 
customary in trials for high treason, the court was then adjourned to 
December 31st, when John Frost was put to the bar. The first day was 
occupied in challenging the jury ; the next day the Attorney-General 
addressed the court and jury on the part of the crown, and the prisoner's 
counsel objected to the calling of the witnesses in consequence of the list 
of them not having been given to the prisoner Frost, agreeably to the 
terms of the statute ; on the third day the evidence was entered into ; 
and on the eighth day, after the most patient attention of the court and 
jury, a verdict of guilty was recorded against Frost, with recommendation 
to mercy. The trials of Williams and Jones each occupied four days, 
with a like verdict and recommendation. Walters, Morgan, Rees, Ben- 
field and Lovell pleaded guilty, and received sentence of death, the court 
intimating that they would be transported for life. Four were discharged, 
two forfeited their bail, and nine having pleaded guilty to charges of con- 
spiracy and riot, were sentenced to terms of imprisonment not exceeding 
one year. Frost and the other ringleaders, on whom sentence of death 
had been passed, were finally transported for life. 

ATTEMPT TO BURN SHEFFIELD. 

The spirit of Chartism, though repressed, was not subdued. Sunday, 
January 12, 1840, had been fixed on for outbreak in various parts of the 
country ; but by the precautionary measures of government and the 
police their designs were frustrated. Information was afterwards received 
that the Chartists intended to fire the town of Sheffield. They began to 
assemble, but troops and constables being on the alert, they succeeded 
in taking the ringleaders, but not before several persons were wounded, 
three of whom were policemen. An immense quantity of fire-arms, ball 
cartridges, iron bullets, hand-grenades, fire-balls, daggers, pikes and 



218 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

swords were found, together with a quantity of crow-feet for disabling 
horses. The ringleaders were committed to York Castle, and at the 
ensuing assizes were tried, found guilty and sentenced to various terms 
of imprisonment — of one, two and three years. At the same time four 
of the Bradford Chartists were sentenced to three years' imprisonment, 
and three from Barnsley for the term of two years. At the same assizes 
Feargus O'Connor was convicted of having published in the " Northern 
Star " newspaper, of which he was the editor and proprietor, certain 
seditious libels ; and the noted demagogue orators, Vincent and Edwards, 
who were at the time undergoing a former sentence in prison, were 
convicted at Monmouth of a conspiracy to effect great changes in the 
Government by illegal means, etc., and were severally sentenced to a 
further imprisonment to twelve and fourteen months. In various other 
places, also, London among the rest, Chartist conspirators were tried 
and punished for their misdeeds. Out of this agitation, however, sprang 
the Anti-Corn-Law League, of which we shall hear more. 

MARRIAGE OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 

For the space of two years and a half the British sceptre had been 
swayed by a " virgin queen"; it was therefore by no means surprising 
that Her Majesty should at length consider that the cares of regal state 
might be rendered more supportable if shared by a consort. That such, 
indeed, had been the subject of her royal musings was soon made evi- 
dent ; for, on the 16th of January, she met her Parliament, and com- 
menced her speech with the following plain and unaffected sentence : 
"My Lords and gentlemen : — Since you were last assembled I have de- 
clared my intention of allying myself in marriage with Prince Albert of 
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. I humbly implore that the divine blessing may 
prosper this union, and render it conducive to the interests of my people, 
as well as to my own domestic happiness." 

On the 6th of the ensuing month, the bridegroom-elect, conducted 
by Viscount Torrington, and accompanied by the Duke his father, and 
his elder brother, arrived at Dover; and on the ioth "the marriage of 
the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty with the Field-Marshal His Royal 
Highness Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emanuel, Duke of Saxe, 
Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, K. G., was solemnized at the chapel- 
royal, St. James. The processions of the royal bride and bridegroom 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 2IG 

were conducted in a style of splendor suitable to the occasion. The 
Duke of Sussex gave away his royal niece ; and at that part of the ser- 
vice where the Archbishop of Canterbury reads the words, " I pronounce 
that they be man and wife together," the park and tower guns were fired. 
In the afternoon Her Majesty and the Prince proceeded to Windsor 
Castle ; a banquet was given at St. James' Palace to the members of the 
household, which was honored by the presence of the Duchess of Kent, 
and the reigning Duke and hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg ; and the 
day was universally kept as a holiday throughout the country ; grand din- 
ners were given by the cabinet ministers, and in the evening the splendid 
illumination of the metropolis gave additional eclat to the hymeneal 
rejoicings. 

THE OPIUM WAR. 

For many months past there had been an interruption to those rela- 
tions of amity and commerce which for a long period had been main- 
tained between England and China. It originated in the determination 
on the part of the Chinese Government to put an end to the importation 
of opium into the " Celestial Empire," and the opposition made to that 
decree by British merchants engaged in that traffic. Early in the yeai 
1840 a large quantity of opium belonging to British merchants was given 
up on the requisition of Mr. Elliot, the Queen's representative at Canton, 
to be destroyed by the Chinese authorities. The quantity seized was 
20,000 chests, supposed to be worth ^2,000,000 ; and Mr. Elliot pledged 
the faith of the government he represented that the merchants 
should receive compensation. 

The English Government was naturally desirous to keep on good 
terms with a country from whom so many commercial advantages had 
been derived ; but the Chinese authorities daily grew more arrogant and 
unreasonable, and several outrages against the English were committed. 
At length, in an affray between some seamen of the " Volage" and the 
Chinese, one of the latter was killed ; and on Captain Elliot having re- 
fused to deliver up the homicide to Commissioner Lin, the most severe 
and arbitrary measures were immediately taken to expel all the British 
inhabitants from Macao. This hostile conduct was quickly followed by 
an outbreak of a still more serious character. The " Black Joke," 
having on board one passenger, a Mr. Moss, and six Lascars, was obliged 
to anchor in the Lantaod passage, to wait for the tide. Here she was 



2 20 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

surrounded by three mandarin boats, by whose crews she was boarded. 
Five of the Lascars were butchered and Mr. Ross was shockingly 
mutilated. 

HOSTILITIES AT MACAO. 

These proceedings gave rise to further measures of hostility. On 
the 4th of September, 1840, Captain Elliot came from Hong Kong to 
Macao in his cutter, in company with the schooner " Pearl," to obtain 
provisions for the fleet. The mandarins, however, on board the war- 
junks, opposed their embarkation, when Captain Elliot intimated that if 
in half an hour the provisions were not allowed to pass, he would open 
fire upon them. The half hour passed, and the gun was fired. Three 
war-junks then endeavored to put to sea, but were compelled by a well- 
directed fire of the cutter and the "Pearl " to seek shelter under the 
walls of Kowloon Fort. About 6 o'clock the " Volage" frigate hove in 
sight, and the boat of Captain Douglas, with twenty-four British seamen, 
attempted to board the junk, but without success. The boat's crew then 
opened a fire of musketry, by which a mandarin and four Chinese 
soldiers were killed and seven wounded. The result, however, was that 
the provisions were not obtained and the Chinese junks escaped ; while, 
instead of any approach to a better understanding between the two coun- 
tries, it was regarded rather as the commencement of a war, which, in- 
deed, the next news from China confirmed. 

DESTRUCTION OF CHINESE FLEET. 

On the appearance of another British ship, the "Thomas Courts," 
atWhampoa, Commissioner Lin renewed his demand for the surrender of 
the murderer of the Chinese, and issued an edict commanding all British 
ships to enter the port of Canton and sign the opium bond, or to depart 
from the coast immediately. In case of non-compliance with either ol 
these conditions within three days, the commissioner declared he would 
/destroy the entire British fleet. On the publication of this edict, Cap- 
tain Elliot demanded an explanation from the Chinese admiral, Kawn, 
who at first pretended to enter into a negotiation, but immediately 
afterwards ordered out twenty-nine war-junks, evidently intending to 
surround the British ships. The attempt ended in five of the junks being 
sunk and another blown up, each with from 150 to 200 men on board, 
and on the rest making off, Captain Elliot ordered the firing to cease. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 22 1 

A decree was now issued by the Emperor prohibiting the importa- 
tion of all British goods, and the trade with China was consequently at 
an end ; but the American ships arrived and departed as usual. In the 
meantime preparations on a large scale were making in India to col- 
lect and send a large force to China, so as to bring this important quarrel 
to an issue. Several men-of-war and corvettes from England and 
various stations were got ready, and the command given to Admiral 
Elliot to give the expedition all the co-operation possible. 

ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE QUEEN VICTORIA. 

A great sensation was caused in the public mind by an attempt to 
assassinate the Queen. On the ioth of June, as Her Majesty was start- 
ing for an evening drive, up Constitution Hill, in a low, open carriage 
accompanied by Prince Albert, a young man deliberately fired two pistols 
at her, but happily without effect. His name proved to be Edward 
Oxford, the son of a widow who formerly kept a coffee-shop in South- 
ward He was about eighteen years of age, and had been lately em- 
ployed as a pot-boy in Oxford street, but was out of place. He was 
instantly seized and sent to Newgate on a charge of high treason ; but 
it appeared on his trial that there were grounds for attributing the act 
to insanity, and as there was no proof that the pistols were loaded, 
the jury returned a verdict of "guilty, but that at the time he committed 
the act he was insane." 

LOUIS NAPOLEON AT BOULOGNE. 

It is some time since we had occasion to notice anything relative 
to French affairs ; but an event transpired in August, 1840, which we 
cannot well omit. On the 6th of that month Louis Napoleon, son of the 
late King of Holland, and male heir of the Bonaparte family, made an 
absurd attempt to effect a hostile descent upon the coast of France. 
He embarked from London in the " Edinburgh Castle" steamer, which 
he had hired from the Commercial Steam Navigation Company, as for 
a voyage of pleasure, accompanied by about fifty men, including General 
Montholon, Colonels Voisen, Laborde, Montauban and Parquin, and 
several other officers of inferior rank. They landed at a small port 
about two leagues from Boulogne, to which town they immediately 
marched, and arrived at the barracks at about 5 o'clock, just as the 



22 2 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

soldiers of the Forty-second Regiment of the line were rising from their 
beds. At first the soldiers were a little staggered, as they understood 
a revolution had taken place in Paris, and they were summoned to 
join the imperial eagle. One of their officers, however, having hurried 
to the barracks, soon relieved the men from their perplexity, and they 
acknowledged his authority. Louis Napoleon drew a pistol and at- 
tempted to shoot the inopportune intruder, but the shot took effect 
upon a soldier, who died the same day. Finding themselves thus foiled, 
the Bonapartists took the Calais road to the Colonne de Napoleon, 
upon the top of which they placed their flag. The town authorities 
and national guard then went in pursuit of the Prince, who, being in- 
tercepted on the side of the column, made for the beach, with a view 
to embark and regain the packet in which he had arrived. He took 
possession of the lifeboat, but scarcely had his followers gotten into it 
when the national guard also arrived on the beach and discharged a 
volley on the boat, which immediately upset, and the whole company 
were seen struggling in the sea. In the meantime the steam-packet 
was already taken possession of by the lieutenant of the port. The 
Prince was then made prisoner, and about three hours after his attempt 
on Boulogne he and his followers were safely lodged in the castle. 
From Boulogne he was removed to the castle at Ham, and placed in the 
rooms once occupied by Prince Polignac. On being tried and found 
guilty, Louis Napoleon was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in a 
fortress ; Count Montholon, twenty years' detention ; Parquin and Lom- 
bard, the same period ; others were sentenced to shorter periods ; 
Aldenize was transported for life, and some were acquitted. 

REMAINS OF BONAPARTE BROUGHT HOME. 

This insane attempt to excite a revolution probably owed its origin 
to the "liberal" permission granted by Louise Philippe and the no less 
liberal acquiescence of the English ministers to allow the ashes of the 
Emperor Napoleon to be removed from St. Helena, that they might find 
their last resting place in France. This had undoubtedly raised the 
hopes of many a zealous Bonapartist, who thought that the fervor of 
the populace was likely to display itself in a violent emeute, which the 
troops would be more ready to favor than to quell. A grant of a 
million of francs had been made to defray the expenses of the expedi- 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 223 

tion to St. Helena, which was to be under the command of Prince de 
Joinville, the funeral ceremony, and the erection of a tomb in the Church 
of the Invaiides ; so that, in the language ol the French Minister of the 
Interior, " his tomb, like his glory, should belong to his country." The 
Prince arrived at Cherbourg with his special charge on the 30th of No- 
vember, and on the 15th of December Napoleon's remains were honored 
by a splendid funeral procession, the King and royal family being 
present at the ceremony, with 60,000 national guards in attendance and 
an attendance of 500,000 persons. 

THE BRITISH PRINCESS-ROYAL. 

Queen Victoria, on the 21st of November, 1840, gave birth, at Buck- 
ingham Palace, to a princess, her first-born child ; and on the 10th of 
February the infant princess-royal was christened Victoria Adelaide 
Mary Louise. 

In 1838 the Spanish general and dictator, Espartero, conducted a 
successful campaign against the Carlists. In the following year, on 
August 31, he concluded the Treaty of Vergara with the Carlist leader, 
Maroto, and thus the Carlist war was, for the time being, ended. 

The year 1839 also saw a settlement of the disputes between 
Holland and Belgium. By its terms Limburg and Luxemburg were 
divided between the two kingdoms. 

TURKISH AFFAIRS 

The Turkish Sultan, Mahmoud II, in 1S39, made war upon Mehemet 
Ali, Viceroy of Egypt. The Turkish forces, under Hafiz Pacha, were 
utterly routed by Ibrahim Pacha at Nizib on June 24th. Mahmoud died 
a week later and was succeeded by Abdul Mejid. A few days after- 
ward the Turkish fleet was treacherously surrendered to the Egyptians. 
Chastened by defeat, Abdul Mejid, under the guidance of Reschid Pacha, 
began a general constitutional reform of the domestic affairs of the Em- 
pire, with the " Hatti Shereef," a reform proclamation, of Gulhane, on 
November 3d. 

In 1840 an alliance was entered into between England, Russia, Aus- 
tria and Prussia, to put an end to the dispute between the Sultan and 
Mehemet Ali. For this purpose it was deemed expedient to dispatch 
a fleet to the Mediterranean ; and on the 14th of August Commodore 



22 4 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

Napier summoned the Egyptian authorities to evacuate Syria. In reply 
to this summons, Mehemet AH declared that on the first appearance 
of hostility by the powers of Europe, the Pacha Ibrahim would be com- 
manded to march on Constantinople. Soon afterwards hostilities com- 
menced, and the town of Beyrout was bombarded on the nth of Sep 
tember and completely destroyed by the allies in two hours. The war in 
Syria was now carried on with great activity. The troops of Ibrahim 
sustained a signal defeat early in October, with a loss of 7000 in killed, 
wounded and prisoners ; in addition to which Commodore Napier, with a 
comparatively trifling number of marines and Turkish troops, succeeded 
in expelling the Egyptians from nearly the whole of Lebanon, captured 
about 5000 prisoners, with artillery and stores, and effected the disor- 
ganization of an army of 20,000 men. In short, more brilliant results 
with such limited means have rarely been known, particularly when it is 
considered under what novel circumstances they were accomplished. 
But the great exploit remains to be related. 

FALL OF ACRE. 

St. Jean d'Acre was taken by the allies on the 3d of November. 
Colonel Smith, who commanded the forces in Syria, directed Omar Bey, 
with 2000 Turks, to advance on Tyre, and occupy the passes to the 
northward of Acre. In the meantime Admiral Stopford sailed from Bey- 
rout Roads, having on board 3000 Turks and detachments of English 
artillery and sappers. The forces and fleet arrived off Acre at the same 
time. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon a tremendous cannonade took place, 
which was maintained without intermission for some hours, the steamers, 
lying outside, throwing, with astonishing rapidity, their shells over the 
ships into the fortifications. During the bombardment the arsenal and 
magazine blew up, annihilating upwards of twelve hundred of the enemy, 
forming two entire regiments, who were drawn up on the ramparts. A 
sensation was felt on board the ships similar to that of an earthquake. 
Every living creature within an area of 60,000 square yards ceased to 
exist. At 2 o'clock on the following morning a boat arrived from Acre 
to announce that the remainder of the garrison were leaving the place, 
and as soon as the sun rose the British, Austrian and Turkish flags were 
seen waving on the citadel. The town was found to be one mass of 
ruins ; the batteries and houses riddled all over ; killed and wounded 






■:'"■ •: . :W 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



227 



lying about in all directions. The slain was estimated at 2500, and the 
prisoners amounted to upwards of 3000. The Turkish troops were 
landed to garrison Acre, where a vast quantity of military stores were 
found, besides an excellent park of artillery of 200 guns and a large sum 
in specie. 

TERMS OF PEACE. 

As the foregoing successes led to the termination of the war in Syria 
and its evacuation by Ibrahim Pacha, it is unnecessary to speak of opera- 
tions of a minor character. Mehemet Ali eventually submitted to all the 
conditions offered by the Sultan, and which were sanctioned by the rep- 
resentatives of Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia : 

" 1st. The hereditary possession of Egypt is confirmed to Mehemet 
Ali and his descendants in a direct line. 2d. Mehemet Ali will be 
allowed to nominate his own officers up to the rank of a colonel. The 
Viceroy can only confer the title of pacha with the consent of the Sultan. 
3d. The annual contribution is fixed at 80,000 purses, or 40,000,000 
piastres. 4th. The Viceroy will not be allowed to build a ship of war 
without the permission of the Sultan. 5. The laws and regulations of 
the Empire are to be observed in Egypt, with such changes as the 
peculiarity of the Egyptian people may render necessary, but which 
changes must receive the sanction of the Porte." 

Changes in European thrones were numerous in 1840. Frederick 
William IV of Prussia succeeded his father, Frederick William III. 
William I of Holland abdicated in favor of his son, William II. Maria 
Cristina of Spain left the country, and Espartero became for a time its 
real ruler. 

The introduction of penny postage in England by Rowland Hill was 
one of the most noteworthy incidents of the year 1840. 

Russia persisted in her Central Asian conquests, sending in 1839 
an expedition under General Perovski against the Khan of Khiva. 
This expedition met, however, with complete disaster in the following 
year. 

The death of the famous Sikh ruler, Runjeet Singh, " the Lion of 
the Punjaub," made the year 1839 notable ; n Indian annals. In that year 
the British took possession of Aden, the stronghold at the lower end of 
the Red Sea, thus strengthening their control of the road to India. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Regular Steam Navigation of Atlantic Begun — The "Great Western' 
— Regular Trips Begun — The "Great Britain" — A Fine Ship's 
Bad Luck — Origin of the Cunard Line — Antarctic Ex- 
plorations — Wilkes's Expedition — "Erebus" and "Terror" 
— New Year's at Mount Sabine — Antarctic Vol- 
canoes — The Icy Barrier — The Attempt 
Abandoned — Origin of Photography — 
Temperance Societies — Literary 
Progress. 



WHEN it was first proposed, about 1836, to cross the Atlantic 
by steam-power alone, the idea was deemed illusive. Some 
of the most distinguished scientific men in the world gave a 
verdict against it, and prophesied its failure in no unequivocal 
language. At the command of these philosophers all kinds of spectres 
rose up from the Atlantic Ocean to terrify the daring men who had 
determined to make the attempt. The action of the paddle-wheels on 
the water — the waves, and storms, and currents of the Atlantic — and the 
quantity of coal necessary to be used, were all made the subjects of nice 
calculations such as no person could dispute ; and the theorem they all 
tended to prove was that the project was utterly impracticable. To men 
who made no pretense to be philosophers, the difficulties in the way were 
self-obvious. The distance to be traversed was at least 3000 miles of 
clear ocean, with no intervening land where a vessel might run for shelter 
or supplies. Mariners knew well that the Atlantic was not only fre- 
quently agitated by terrific storms, but that its currents ran across the 
track of any vessel sailing between England and America. 

THE " GREAT WESTERN." 

However, amid all this thinking and prophesying, amid the calcula- 
tions of philosophers and the speculations of merchants, hundreds of 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 229 

workmen were engaged at Bristol in constructing a large steamer, to be 
called the "Great Western," which should at once and forever set the 
question at rest. The men of practice did not share the doubts of the 
men of theory ; capital was supplied to a sufficient extent, and the public 
looked on in anxious expectation of the result. 

The "Great Western" sailed from Bristol on the 8th of April, 1838, 
having on board 660 tons of coal and seven adventurous passengers. 
Three days previously the "Sirius," a smaller vessel than the former, 
built to ply between London and Cork, had steamed from the latter port 
right in the teeth of a strong westerly wind, and with New York also for 
her destination. Never was there such a race as this struggle of two 
steamers, which should first traverse the entire breadth of the wild 
Atlantic. The very wind seemed to be angry with the ships. The 
"Sirius," that had the start by three days, made little way comparatively 
during the first week. She carried more weight in proportion than the 
" Great Western," but as her coals were consumed she became more 
lively, and, in sporting phrase, " made more running." Thus, during the 
first week she was out, her daily run was never more than 136 miles; 
on the second day it was only 89. The "Great Western," on the con- 
trary, made 10 miles an hour during the second day, and her average 
daily speed during the entire voyage was 211 miles. At such a speed 
she would soon overtake the "Sirius," that had a start by about 400 
miles only. 

As the little vessel got lighter her swiftness increased ; on the 
14th she ran 218 miles, as much as the " Great Western" on the same 
day; on the 2 2d she ran only 3 miles less than the large ship, but the 
latter was then in the same parallel of latitude, and only about three 
degrees of longitude behind. Still it was a close chase ; but at last the 
" Sirius," by reason of her long start, was the winner. She reached New 
York on the morning of the 23d, and the "Great Western " came in the 
same afternoon. 

The excitement which prevailed in New York respecting these voy- 
ages was intense. Previous to the arrival of the steamers crowds had 
daily collected on the quay, gazing wistfully eastward over the wide 
Atlantic. Many of the watchers were old enough to remember the first 
voyage of Fulton's "Folly," little dreaming then what the future of that 
" Folly" was to be ; and as they now describe that memorable voyage to 



23O STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

their younger brethren, they remember how the predictions of the wise 
had been falsified, and spoke in hope rather than in doubt of the success 
of the steamers from the Old World. And never were hopes so well 
realized as when, on the morning of the 23d of April, a streak of smoke, 
dim and undefined, was described in the horizon by the watchers on the 
quay. "Could it be a steamer?" — "Was it the steamer?" — passed 
from mouth to mouth. The smoke came nearer ; the hull hove up, as it 
were, out of the ocean, and a steamer was clearly defined advancing 
rapidly. The intelligence spread ; the city poured out its crowds ; and 
cheer upon cheer arose as the " Sirius " steamed into the harbor and 
cast in the Hudson that anchor which, only eighteen days before, had 
been weighed at Cork. Scarcely had the good citizens time to recover 
from their first surprise when the " Great Western " appeared. Stream- 
ing with flags and crowded with people, the "Sirius" lay waiting the 
arrival of her competitor; and as the " Great Western " sailed round 
her, three hearty cheers were given and responded to. The battery fired 
a salute of twenty-six guns; and down came the flag of the "Great 
Western," while the passengers, amid the most enthusiastic cheering, 
drank the health of the President of the Great Republic. As the vessel 
proceeded to the quay "boats crowded round us," says the journal of 
one of the passengers, " in countless confusion ; flags were flying, guns 
firing and bells ringing. The vast multitude set up a shout — a long 
enthusiastic cheer — echoed from point to point, and from boat to boat, 
till it seemed as though they never would have done." 

REGULAR TRIPS BEGUN. 

The "Great Western" continued to ply regularly and successfully. 
From 1838 to 1844 she made thirty-five outward and thirty-five home- 
ward voyages — steaming altogether a quarter of a million of miles in all 
kinds of weather. The only accident that befell her during such service 
was "the loss of a bowsprit in coming up like a whale to blow after a 
rather deeper plunge than usual, with fair headway on her right course 
and against a head-wind and sea." The average distance steamed each 
voyage was nearly 3500 miles (one of the voyages was 4698 miles in 
length, but that was to New York via Madeira) ; the time occupied in 
going to New York was fifteen days twelve hours, and in returning, 
thirteen days nine hours. The shortest outward run was in May, 1843, 




MILLARD FILLMORE 



JAMES BU CHANAN . 



1841— PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 




1847— BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA— MEXICAN WAR 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



2 33 



when the voyage was performed in twelve days eighteen hours, or not 
much more than a third of the average time taken by the old liners ; 
and the shortest passage home was in April- May, 1842, in twelve 
days seven and a half hours. The average speed outwards was 
nine and a half, and homeward eleven and a quarter miles per hour. 
During these seventy voyages the "Great Western" carried 3165 
passengers to New York and brought 2609 home. 

THE " GREAT BRITAIN." 

According to Captain Claxton, Managing Director of the Great 
Western Steamship Company, " no sooner had the ' Great Western ' 
performed her voyage, with the greatest ease, to New York and back, 
than the directors found that steamships of larger dimensions would offer 
better chances of remuneration." "They now determined that their 
second ship should be built of iron instead of wood, and propelled by the 
screw instead of the paddle-wheel." Accordingly the keel of the " Great 
Britain" was laid at Bristol in 1839, and the vessel was launched in 
1843 — Prince Albert acting as sponsor on the occasion. The misfortunes 
of this ill-fated ship began at the cradle. Perhaps some reader may 
have heard of the keeper of the lighthouse whose better-half throve so 
well in that useful building that for years all exit through the narrow 
door was denied her ; and after her worthy husband died his successor 
was obliged to take the stout widow "for better, for worse," as one of 
the fixtures of the establishment. The "Great Britain," at the outset of 
her career, was somewhat like the heavy lady in the lighthouse ; the 
addition of her machinery brought her lines of greatest breath so low 
that the entrance of the dock or basin in which she lay would not permit 
her exit, and the greatest ingenuity of the greatest engineers was exerted 
for her release. She was freed at last, and proceeded to London, Dublin 
and Liverpool, to be inspected by the public previous to sailing for 
America. 

A FINE SHIP'S BAD LUCK. 

This vessel was, in every sense of the word, magnificent. Her total 
length was 322 feet, breadth 51, and depth 32. She could stow away 
1200 tons of coal ; the weight of the engines was 340, and of the boilers 
200 tons. The engines were of 1000 horse-power ; they gave motion to 
a drum 18 feet in diameter, which communicated by means of chains 
13 



234 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

weighing 7 tons, with another drum one-third of the diameter of the first. 
The latter drove a shaft 1 30 feet long, passing immediately above the 
keel to the screw, which had 6 arms placed in a circle — each arm about 
7 feet long, and shaped somewhat like the bent tail of a salmon. The 
screw weighed 4 tons, and wrought in a space left immediately in front 
of the helm. The want of paddle-boxes, and the consequently clear run 
of the ship, gave her a very handsome appearance, and when seen in the 
graving dock at Liverpool from kelson to topmast, the admiration of her 
beautiful proportions increased as inspection became closer. The saloons 
and berths were elegantly fitted up, but not so expensively as those of 
the "Great Western." Her six masts (afterwards reduced to five) could 
spread as much canvas (5000 yards) as a fifty-two gun frigate ; but as 
the masts were all low, instead of requiring a frigate's complement of 
seamen, the comparatively small number of thirty was sufficient to 
manage the sails of the " Great Britain." Even as a sailing vessel, it 
was expected that she would go through the water as fast as a frigate, 
and certainly much faster than any paddle steamer under sail only, as 
the screw would not impede the progress of the ship to anything like the 
extent of paddle-boxes and wheels. Her entire cost was about ,£100,000. 
All England was proud of this ship ; her sailing and steaming qual- 
ities had been tested with satisfactory results, and it was considered that 
she would for many years be the swiftest and safest Atlantic steamer. A 
few voyages in 1845-46 seemed to confirm this idea ; but her successful 
career was suddenly stopped in a most unaccountable manner. Every 
one knows that if you sail from Liverpool to America you must go around 
either the south or the north of Ireland. The captain of the "Great 
Britain," on her last outward voyage, intended to go around by the north 
passage. On his way he must pass the Isle of Man, but through some 
blundering it was passed without being perceived, the Irish coast taken 
for it, and the poor " Great Britain " consequently went ashore. 

ORIGIN OF THE CUNARD LINE. 

But now we turn to a brighter page in the history of the bold adven- 
turers on this Atlantic route. In November, 1838, shortly after the suc- 
cessful voyage of the " Great Western," the English Government adver- 
tised for tenders for carrying the mails in steamers between this country 
and America. Both the companies to which these two vessels belonged 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



235 



made offers : the former to go once a month from Cork to Halifax for 
,£45,000 ; and for ,£65,000 per annum if New York were included, the 
vessels to be of 240 horse-power. The Great Western Company pro- 
posed to perform the service to Halifax once a month, with three vessels 
of 350 horse-power each, for £"45,000 per annum. Neither of these ten- 
ders was accepted ; but shortly afterwards a proposal was made to the 
English Government by Mr. Samuel Cunard, of Halifax, Nova Scotia. 
This gentleman had had for fifteen or twenty years previously a contract 
for carrying the mails between Halifax and Bermuda, for which he received 
£"4460 per annum, his vessels running twice each month ; and he now 
proposed to take the Atlantic contract, and carry the mails once a week. 
This proposition was not acceded to at the time, but ultimately it was 
arranged that he was to receive £"65,000 per annum for seven years 
for conveying the mails twice each month between Liverpool, Halifax, 
Quebec and Boston. This was the commencement of what is now the 
well-known Cunard Line. In the summer of 1840 a steamer named 
the "Britannia," of 1200 tons burthen, 440 horse-power, and 230 feet in 
length (the same dimensions nearly as the "Great Western "), arrived 
in the Mersey to commence the fulfilment of Mr. Cunard's contract. She 
left Liverpool on the 4th of July, arriving at Halifax in 12 days 10 
hours, and performing the voyage homeward from Halifax in 10 days. 
The other vessels placed on this line at the outset were the "Arcadia," 
"Columbia," and " Caledonia." They were all built in the Clyde, and 
their dimensions were nearly the same as the " Britannia." More 
powerful vessels were afterwards constructed, and in consideration 
thereof the payment was raised to £"90,000 per annum, subsequently 
reduced to ,£85,000 when the service to Quebec was taken off. 

ANTARCTIC EXPLORATIONS, 

In 1837 the French Government sent out an expedition under 
Rear-Admiral D'Urville, an eminent explorer, who had already made 
three voyages around the world. Two corvettes, the "Astrolabe " and 
"Zelee," sailed from Toulon, and by the end of the year had followed 
Weddell's track in the Antarctic seas until they were stopped by the 
ice between the 63d and 64th parallels. On three occasions an entrance 
was forced into it, but they were driven back each time and forced to 
return. Louis Philippe's Land, however, was discovered, and some posi 



236 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

tions of the shores beyond Brandsfield Straits determined. After a 
lengthened cruise in Polynesia and the Indian Archipelago, D'Urville re- 
solved to make another attempt to get to the south, and touched at 
Hobart Town in a distressed condition, having lost three officers and 
thirteen men by dysentery. He sailed in January, 1840, his special aim 
being to approach or reach the magnetic or terrestrial pole. The 
terrestrial meridian from Hobart Town to the pole coincides in a re- 
markable degree with the magnetic meridian, and by steering on the 
former, D'Urville hoped to arrive at both the poles he was searching for 
by the same route. On the 21st he was surrounded by numerous ice 
islands, and saw a lofty line of coast covered with snow, stretching from 
south-west to north-west, apparently without limit. With some difficulty 
a landing was effected, and possession taken in the name of France. It 
was called La Terre Adelie, after the wife of the discoverer. Two days 
afterwards the vessels were separated by a terrific storm ; they, however, 
weathered through and met again on the 28th in an open sea toward the 
north, from whence they steered a south-westerly course to complete a 
series of magnetic observations, keeping a lookout for land in that direc- 
tion. On this route a ship was seen, which afterwards proved to be the 
"Porpoise," one of the American squadron. The vessels passed with- 
out communicating, and in February, 1840, D'Urville returned to Hobart 
Town. The subsequent fate of this persevering navigator was truly 
melancholy. After having escaped all the dangers of a sailor's life dur- 
ing thirty years, he was burned to death, with his wife and son, in the 
railway train between Paris and Versailles in 1842. 

WILKES'S EXPEDITION. 

The United States Exploring Expedition, the first that ever left this 
country for a Scientific purpose, sailed in August, 1838. It comprised 
two sloops of war, the "Vincennes" and the "Peacock," the brig 
"Porpoise," a store-ship, and two tenders. With respect to researches 
in the Antarctic seas, Lieutenant Wilkes, the commander, was instructed 
to follow, as others had previously done, Weddel's track, and afterwards 
to explore as far as Cook's ne plus ultra, neglecting no opportunity of 
pushing to the south as might be compatible with the safety of the ves- 
sels. The "Porpoise" and "Seagull," tender, sailed from Orange Har- 
bor, on the west of Terra del Fuego, in February, 1839, f° r tne ^ rst 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



237 



southern cruise, and explored in the vicinity of the South Shetlands. 
The " Peacock " and " Flying Fish " followed, and penetrated as far as 
70 degrees, when the approach of winter compelled their return. Off 
Cape Horn the "Seagull" separated from her consort, and was never 
afterwards heard of. The second cruise was made from Sydney with 
four of the ships ; they sailed December 29th, two days before D'Urville. 
Lieutenant Wilkes chose the meridian of Macquarie Island, designing, 
after a long stretch to the south, to turn westward, and beat around 
the circle to Enderby Land, and make a dash towards the pole when- 
ever practicable. On the 16th of January, in latitude 66 degrees, he 
landed on what was taken for an island, but which subsequent researches 
gave reason to suppose was a floating mass of ice. To make the explo- 
ration as effective as possible, the ships separated. They were, how- 
ever, so ill-adapted for navigation among ice, that although great exer- 
tions were used to widen the search one after another they were com- 
pelled to abandon the enterprise, after having incurred extreme distress 
and danger. The " Vincennes " was the last to return. On the 30th of 
January, Lieutenant Wilkes entered a bay, which he named Pinar's Bay, 
in latitude 66° 45', and designated the country as the Antarctic Conti- 
nent. The accumulations of floating ice prevented his reaching the 
shore, and he was then unaware that this was the Adelie Land of 
D'Urville. The French admiral had landed there a week previously, 
and taken possession. The American squadron returned to the United 
States in June, 1842. 

" EREBUS " AND " TERROR." 

Next came an important English expedition. Two vessels were 
fitted out, the "Erebus," of 350 tons, and the "Terror," the latter hav- 
ing been repaired after returning from Back's hazardous voyage to- 
wards Repulse Bay. Ross and Crozier were the commanders, with 
sixty-four persons in each ship. They left Chatham on the 1 6th of Sep- 
tember, 1839, and on the 5th of October were off the Lizard, the last 
point of England they were to see for several years. 

After touching at the Cape and landing a party with materials and 
instruments for the establishment of a magnetic observatory, as had pre- 
viously been done at St. Helena, the ships proceeded to Kerguelen's 
Island, in approaching which they encountered the tempestuous weather 
so characteristic of high southerly latitudes. They remained here until 



238 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



the 20th of July, pursuing diligently their magnetical, meteorological, 
geological, botanical, and other researches. Abundance of coal was 
found, a fact which in these days of ocean steam navigation may perhaps 
be turned to good account. The plants are much less numerous than in 
higher latitudes in the North. Parry met with sixty-seven species at 
Melville Island, and forty-five have been discovered at Spitsbergen, while 
Kerguelen Island produces but eighteen, Among these there is one 
which deserves especial mention— the Kerguelen cabbage, first noticed 
during Cook's stay on the island. 

On November 12, 1840, the summer season of that side ol the 
world, the vessels, having been fully refitted, were found to be more effi- 
cient than when they left England, and the party sailed in search of new 
lands in unknown seas. 

NEW YEAR'S AT MOUNT SABINE. 

The good cheer of New Year's day was not forgotten, and a suit of 
warm clothing was served out gratis to every one of the crew. On the 
5th they beat into the main pack, and when fairly entered, found it lighter 
and more open than it appeared from the outside. Penguins, albatrosses, 
petrels and seals crowded about the vessels, and followed them in their 
winding course among the hummocks and floes. They got through the 
pack, which was here 200 miles wide, in four days, and on the 10th — one 
of those singular phenomena peculiar to the frozen latitudes — not a par- 
ticle of ice could be seen in any direction from the masthead. The dip 
was 85 degrees, an amount which marked their proximity to the mag- 
netic pole, to which the ships were now directly steered. But on the 
next morning, land, with lofty mountains, was seen ahead. One of these, 
10,000 feet high, was named Mount Sabine, and later in the day the lati- 
tude was found to be 71 15', the highest point reached by Cook in 1774. 

ANTARCTIC VOLCANOES. 

Early on the 28th the vessels stood towards the high land seen 
the day before. It proved to be a mountain, 12,400 feet of elevation 
above the level of the sea, emitting flame and smoke in great profusion. 
At first the smoke appeared like snow-drift, but on drawing nearer its 
true character became manifest. 

"The discovery of an active volcano in so high a southern latitude 
cannot but be esteemed a circumstance of high geological importance 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 239 

and interest, and contribute to throw some further light on the physical 
construction of our globe. It was named Mount Erebus ; and an extinct 
volcano to the eastward, little inferior in height, being by measurement 
10,900 feet high, was named Mount Terror." 

THE ICY BARRIER. 

Later in the same day the latitude was found to be 70° 6', and the 
vessels were to the southward of the magnetic pole, the approach to 
which was impeded by land ice. Standing in for the land under all sail, 
" a low, white line was perceived extending from its eastern extreme 
point as far as the eye could discern to the eastward. It presented an 
extraordinary appearance, gradually increasing in height as we got nearer 
to it, and proving at length to be a perpendicular cliff of ice, between 1 50 
and 200 feet above the level of the sea, perfectly flat and level at the top, 
and without any fissures or promontories on its even seaward face." Far 
in the rear a range of mountains was seen, which were named the Parry 
mountains, in honor of the eminent Arctic explorer. They are the most 
southerly land as yet known on the globe. The sight of this barrier was 
a great disappointment to all on board, for they had anticipated being 
able to push their researches far beyond the 80th degree ; but, as Sir J. 
Ross observes, they "might, with equal chance of success, try to sail 
through the cliffs of Dover as penetrate such a mass." They coasted 
along this icy wall to the eastward, and on the 2d of February had in- 
creased the latitude to j8° 4', the highest point ever reached. On the 
9th they stood closer in, to a bay, where the cliff being low, enabled them 
to look down upon it from the masthead. " It appeared to be quite 
smooth, and conveyed to the mind the idea of an immense plain of 
frosted silver ; gigantic icicles depended from every projecting point of 
its perpendicular face." Although in a season answering to the month 
of August in England, the temperature was not higher than 1 2 degrees, 
and did not rise above 14 degrees at noon ; and so much young ice was 
formed during the nights as to threaten a sudden stoppage to the explo- 
ration, which, however, was continued until the 13th, in hopes of coming 
to the end of the icy barrier, or to find some passage through it to the 
southward. But these expectations were not to be realized. After sail- 
ing along the frozen cliff for 450 miles the vessels bore up to the west- 
ward, to make another attempt to reach the magnetic pole before the 



24O STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

season finally closed. Unlike the bergs of the northern regions, which 
are dismembered by the action of the sea, " this extraordinary barrier, of 
probably more than 1000 feet in thickness, crushes the undulations of 
the waves and disregards their violence. It is a mighty and wonderful 
object, far beyond anything we could have thought or conceived." 

THE ATTEMPT ABANDONED. 

On the 1 7th it became apparent that the endeavor was useless ; a 
secure harbor was then sought for, in which the vessels might winter, 
and from which parties could be sent overland in the spring to visit the 
burning mountain, whose frequent eruptions afforded a magnificent 
spectacle, and to discover the great centre of magnetic attraction. But 
after a hard struggle to reach an island through sixteen miles of inter- 
vening land ice, this attempt was also abandoned — not without much 
regret on the part of the commander, who had indulged in the^ hope of 
planting the British flag on the southern magnetic pole as he formerly 
had on the northern. 

ORIGIN OF PHOTOGRAPHY. 

The year 1839 must ever be memorable on account of the invention 
of photography. The first attempt to produce a picture by the aid of 
the rays of the sun was made in 1802 by Thomas Wedgwood, son of the 
famous potter. Sir Humphrey Davy co-labored with him. But their 
efforts were not successful. Niepce, of Chalons, in 18 14, succeeded in 
making a permanent "heliograph," as it was called, by means of a pro- 
cess which now forms the basis of all photo-engraving. In 1829 he asso- 
ciated himself with Daguerre, but died in 1833 without achieving that 
at which he had aimed. Daguerre continued the experiments, and in 
1839 brought to substantial perfection the process which has ever since 
been known by his name. The Daguerreotypes were pictures of rare 
beauty, but were costly, and in time gave way to later photographic 
processes. 

The first photographic portrait of a human face was made by 
Daguerre's process by Professor John W. Draper, of the University of 
the city of New York, in 1839. ^ was ma de on the roof of the Uni- 
versity building in New York, and was a portrait of his sister. 

The calotype was perfected by Talbot, in England, in 1841, and was 
the first photographic process to make a "negative" from which any 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 241 

number of prints can be made The collodion, or " wet plate " process, 
came into use in 1851, and finally in 1871 the modern gelatine dry plate 
was perfected. 

TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES. 

It was during the administration of President Van Buren that the 
first temperance societies were formed in the United States. These 
were known as the Washington Temperance Societies. They favored 
entire abstinence from alcoholic liquors, and conducted a vigorous propa- 
ganda, largely by inducing converted or reformed drunkards to relate 
publicly their personal experiences. 

LITERARY PROGRESS. 

A noteworthy incident of the year 1837, in the literary world, was 
the appearance of Carlyle's " History of the French Revolution," a 
monumental work which at once stamped its author as one of the fore- 
most historical writers and philosophers of the age, or, indeed, of any age. 

In the same year occurred the death of Alexander S. Pushkin, whom 
Russians esteem to have been their greatest poet. Beside miscellaneous 
poems he wrote romantic epics, a drama, and several novels. For 
writing an "Ode to Liberty" he was dismissed from government service 
and banished to his country home by the Czar, Nicholas I. He was soon 
restored to favor, however, and was charged with writing for the Czar a 
history of Peter the Great. He was killed in a duel. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



William Henry Harrison becomes President of the United States — Death 

of Harrison— John Tyler becomes President — Ashburton Treaty — 

Dorr's Rebellion — Saving Oregon — Anti-Slavery Agitation — 

General Jackson's Fine — Annexation of Texas — Treaty 

with China — The Texas Question — Incidents of the 

Administration — End of Tyler's Term. 



IN 1 841 Mr. Van Buren was succeeded as President of the United 
States by William Henry Harrison, who had been somewhat dis- 
tinguished in political life, but more for his military services. General 
Harrison was the candidate of the Whigs, and Mr. Van Buren of the 
Democrats ; and the electioneering contest was carried on with an ex- 
citement and enthusiasm never before witnessed in this country. Of the 
294 electoral votes given for President, Harrison received 234, and John 
Tyler received the same number of votes for Vice-President. General 
Harrison was inaugurated on the 4th of March, and died on the 4th of 
April, just one month after his inauguration. He was the first President 
of the United States that died in office, and his death was greatly 
lamented. 

DEATH OF HARRISON 

It was difficult to conceive that the recent august spectacle of his 
introduction into the highest office in the gift of his countrymen should 
be so nearly associated with his funeral honors. The loss seemed severe, 
in proportion to the expectations that had been indulged. A suitable 
commemoration of the distressing event was observed throughout the 
United States by public bodies, and especially by Christian worshipping 
assemblies. Political opponents, in many instances, were not slow to 
render homage to the memory of the deceased President. There had 
been time for no particular development of principles or course of policy 
on the part of the administration. The Cabinet had been formed and 
things were proceeding prosperously, and the future was full of promise? 
when this bereavement came to quench the hopes of millions 

.242 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 243 

This brief notice of a brief administration may be closed by an 
extract from the circular issued by the members of the Cabinet imme- 
diately after the President's decease, and which alludes to his dying as 
well as his living example: "The people of the United States, over- 
whelmed, like ourselves, by an event so unexpected and so melancholy, 
will derive consolation from knowing that his death was calm and re 
signed, as his life had been patriotic, useful and distinguished ; and that 
the last utterance of his lips expressed a firm desire for the perpetuity of 
the Constitution and the preservation of its true principles. In death, as 
in 'ife, the happiness of his country was uppermost in his thoughts." 

JOHN TYLER BECOMES PRESIDENT. 

On the death of President Harrison, John Tyler, in accordance with 
the provisions of the Constitution, became President. But he refused to 
carry out the principles of the party by which he was elected, nor did he 
become popular with any party. 

On the 31st of May Congress met in an extra session, which had 
been called by President Harrison, and, besides other acts, they repealed 
the Sub-Treasury Bill and passed two different bills, establishing a fiscal 
bank, or fiscal corporation, of the United States, both of which were 
vetoed by the President. The establishment of such an institution was 
a favorite measure of the Whigs, and the action of the President, in rela- 
tion to it, caused much excitement ; and all the members of the Cabinet 
resigned, with the exception of the Secretary of State, Mr. Webster, who 
fortunately retained office till after the settlement of the difficulty with 
England in relation to the north-eastern boundary. 

In 1842 a new tariff law was enacted, which made provision for the 
public revenue and afforded protection to American manufacturers and 
other branches of national industry, and which was a favorite measure o 
the Whig party. This measure, as it was maintained by its friends, had 
a powerful influence in restoring a high state of prosperity to the country; 
but it caused great dissatisfaction in some parts, especially in the 
Southern States. 

ASHBURTON TREATY. 

The north-eastern boundary of the United States, between the State 
of Maine and the British Provinces of Lower Canada and New Bruns 
wick, had been for some years a subject of negotiation and controversy, 



244 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

and at length it threatened to become a subject of serious national dis- 
pute. The difficulty, however, was amicably adjusted by the treaty of 
Washington, concluded in September, 1842, by Lord Ashburton and 
Daniel Webster. 

One of the last acts of Mr. Tyler's administration was the annexation 
of the Republic of Texas to the United States — a measure which was 
greatly promoted by the exertions of John C. Calhoun, the Secretary 
of State, and which excited a spirited controversy. Joint resolutions for 
the annexation of that republic to the United States, as one of the States 
of the Union, passed the House of Representatives on the 25th of 
January, 1845, D Y a v °te of one hundred and twenty to ninety-eight ; and 
the Senate, on the ist of March, by a vote of twenty-seven to twenty-five; 
and on the same day they were approved by the President. 

DORR'S REBELLION. 

The administration of Mr. Tyler was marked with a curious attempt 
at civil war in New England, known as Dorr's Rebellion. It occurred in 
Rhode Island. The old charter of 1662 was still in force in that State, 
and the right of suffrage was restricted to a small proportion of the 
people. 

A new Constitution was adopted in 1841 by a general popular 
convention, and under it a new Governor, Mr. Dorr, was elected. The 
old government of the State refused to recognize the legality of the new 
Constitution or Governor Dorr's title to his office. Accordingly a new 
Constitution, adopted by more regular methods, was framed in 1843. 1° 
the meantime Governor Dorr seized the State arsenal and attempted to 
maintain himself in office by force. He was finally seized and convicted 
of treason, but was pardoned. 

A similar trouble arose in New York State through the refusal of 
some tenants of the old Dutch patroon estates to pay their legal rent. 
This rent was really no hardship. It amounted to nothing more than the 
payment of one day's work in a year, and perhaps a barrel of flour and 
three or four fowls. It was, however, a clear relic of the feudal customs 
of the dark ages in Europe, and was accordingly unpopular in this demo- 
cratic country. There were some riots and other breaches of the peace, 
but these came to an end in 1846 with the abolition of the rent 
system. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



245 



SAVING OREGON. 

The ownership of the country bordering on the Pacific Ocean be- 
tween California, which belonged to Mexico, and Alaska, which belonged 
to Russia, became a source of controversy between the United States 
and Great Britain. Both laid claim to it, and since 1818 it had been re- 
garded as a sort of neutral ground, under the joint control of both. By 
the year 1842, however, it began to be regarded by each with special 
interest. Many settlers from the United States went together and 
founded a pleasant and fertile country. Both governments soon began 
to claim the whole of it, and Great Britain would probably have suc- 
ceeded in securing possession of it had it not been for the enterprise of 
a missionary from the United States, the Rev. Dr. Whitman, who, amid 
great perils and with great labor, crossed the continent and laid before 
the United States government the urgency of the situation. The result 
was prompt action and earnest enforcement of the American claim. At 
first the United States claimed the entire Territory up to the parallel of 
54 40" north latitude, the southern boundary of Alaska. A popular 
political war-cry of the day was "fifty-four forty or fight." 

ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION. 

. The slavery controversy, of which mention has already been made, 
steadily became more and more acute. Arkansas was admitted as a 
slave State in 1836, and in 1837 Michigan was taken in as a free State to 
counterbalance it. There was thus no more Territory left in the South 
for the creation of additional slave States, while north of the line estab- 
lished by the Missouri Compromise there was room for a dozen more free 
States. Thus the fear arose in the South that the preponderance of 
power would soon be with the free States of the North. This fear was 
intensified by the rise of a definite anti-slavery movement in New Eng- 
land and elsewhere in the North ; the famous Anti-slavery Society was 
organized. The leader of the abolitionists was William Lloyd Garrison, 
a printer and editor. Associated with him were Wendell Phillips and 
Theodore Parker, two of the most powerful orators of the day. In Con- 
gress itself the controversy was vigorously carried on by ex-President 
John Quincy Adams, by Joshua Giddings, of Ohio, and others, and every 
year made it more evident that there was an "impending conflict" upon 
this subject. 



246 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

GENERAL JACKSON'S FINE. 

On January 8, 1844, an act passed Congress refunding a fine which 
had been imposed upon General Jackson at the time of the attack upon 
New Orleans in the late war with England. The re-payment of this fine 
had been recommended by the President as early as 1842, but the 
measure had been till now strongly and successfully resisted. It had 
been imposed on the General by Judge Hall for his refusal, while com- 
manding the army at New Orleans, to obey a summons to appear before 
the Court and answer for his disobedience of a writ of habeas corpus. 
The fine was $1000. The amount now refunded — fine and interest — 
was $2700 ; but the act disclaimed any reflection upon Judge Hall. 

ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 

In April Congress was informed by a special message from the 
President that a treaty had been negotiated with Texas, by which she 
was annexed as a Territory to the United States. This annunciation 
excited no small surprise throughout the country, and awakened great 
solicitude in the minds of those who were opposed to the measure ; as, 
in their view, it involved an extension of slavery and a probable rupture 
with Mexico, which power laid claim to the republic as a part of her 
rightful domain. The treaty, however, was rejected by the Senate^ arid 
the object of the President for the present failed. 

TREATY WITH CHINA. 

During the second session of the Twenty-eighth Congress, an im- 
portant treaty between the United States and the Chinese Empire was; 
ratified by an unanimous vote of the Senate. This treaty was concluded 
by Caleb Cushing and Tsiyeng on the 3d of July, 1844, and by it our 
relations with China were placed on a new footing, eminently favorable 
to the commerce and other interests of the United States. 

THE TEXAS QUESTION. 

The rejection of the treaty with Texas by the Senate, instead of 
cooling, increased the ardor of President Tyler to accomplish his plan 
of annexation. According to his wishes, and probably at his suggestion, 
at the following session of Congress a joint resolution for her annexation 
was introduced into Congress, and passed the House of Representatives, 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 247 

January 23d, by a vote of one hundred and eighteen to one hundred and 
one. In the Senate the resolution underwent several important amend- 
ments, particularly one by Mr. Walker, involving the alternative of 
negotiation at the option of the President, which, having been concurred 
in by the House, received the sanction of the executive, and thus the 
way was prepared for the annexation of the country in question. 

"As these measures, in regard to the admission of Texas, were 
adopted at the close of the session of Congress, it was expected that Mr. 
Tyler would leave it to his successor to consummate the wishes of Con- 
gress, and it was also understood that Mr. Polk had determined to ne- 
gotiate a treaty with Texas under the alternative offered by Mr. Walker's 
amendment. President Tyler, however, determined to forestall the 
action of his successor, and hence dispatched an express to communicate 
to Texas that he had decided to invite Texas into the Union under the 
provisions of the resolutions as they passed the House of Represen- 
tatives, without the exercise of further treaty-making power." 

INCIDENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 

We may note briefly, in passing, that during Mr. Tyler's adminis- 
tration the "gag rule " against the right of petition in Congress was 
rescinded, the Seminole wars were finally ended, the national election 
day for Presidential electors was fixed on the Tuesday after the first 
Monday in November of each fourth year, and Florida was admitted to 
the Union as a State. 

END OF TYLER'S TERM. 

Mr. Tyler's Presidential term expired on the 4th of March, 1845, and 
he was not elected, nor indeed was he a candidate for re-election, except 
for a short period. The candidates of the two great political parties were 
Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and James K. Polk, of Tennessee. These had 
been nominated by the respective conventions of the parties, which had 
assembled in the city of Baltimore ; one on the 1st and the other on the 
17th of May, 1844. The campaign was a spirited one, and the friends 
of the rival candidates used every effort to secure their election. On the 
votes being counted, in the presence of both Houses of Congress, Feb- 
ruary 1 2th, it was officially declared that Mr. Polk was elected. 



CHAPTER XX. 



Mehemet AH Ruler of Egypt— Disasters in Afghanistan— Hastening to 
the Rescue — Fall of Ghuznee — Capture of Cabul — Release of 
Captives — Conquest of Scinde — The Bogue Forts — Fall of 
Canton — Capture of Amoy — Capture of Shanghai — 
Treaty Signed at Nankin — Annexation of Natal — 
O'Connell's Agitation — British Interests- 
Two Revolutions. 



IN a preceding chapter we have told of the ambitious enterprises oi 
Mehemet Ali and his son Ibrahim, which were checked by European 
intervention in Syria. Mehemet was, however, confirmed in his 
sovereignty over Egypt, and he devoted himself thereafter to the 
extension of his power and dominions in that part of the world. In the 
same year, 1841, Louis Philippe, sought to strengthen his hold upon the 
French throne by beginning the construction of that vast circle of fortifi- 
cations around the city of Paris, which became one of the wonders of the 
world. Thus he gave employment to thousands who otherwise might 
have been idle and discontented, and he made a strong appeal to the 
military spirit which was still so potent in the French nation. 

DISASTERS IN AFGHANISTAN. 

The year 1841 came to a close with British disasters in Afghanistan. 
In consequence of reductions having been made in the tribute paid to the 
eastern Ghilzai tribes for keeping open the passes between Cabul and 
Jellalabad, in Afghanistan, the people rose and took possession of these 
passes. General Sir R. Sale's brigade was, therefore, directed to re-open 
communication. The brigade fought its way to Gundamuck, greatly 
harassed by the enemy from the high ground, and after eighteen days' 
incessant fighting, reached that place, much exhausted ; they then moved 
upon Jellalabad. Meantime an insurrection broke out at Cabul. Sir A. 
Burnes and his brother, Lieutenant C. Burnes, Lieutenant Broadfoot and 
Lieutenant Stuart, were massacred. The whole city then rose up in 

248 



00 
5 




STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 2 "? I 

arms and universal plunder ensued, while another large party attacked 
the British cantonments about two miles from the town. These outrages, 
unfortunately, were but the prelude to others far more frightful. Akhbar 
Khan, the son of Dost Mahommed, on pretence of making arrangements 
with Sir W. M'Naughten, the British Envoy at the Court of Shah Soojah, 
invited him to a conference ; he went accompanied by four officers and a 
small escort, when the treacherous Afghan, after abusing the British 
Ambassador, drew a pistol and shot him dead on the spot. Captain 
Trevor, of the 3d Bengal Cavalry, on rushing to his assistance, was cut 
down ; three other officers were made prisoners, and the mutilated body 
of the Ambassador was then barbarously paraded through the town. It 
was also stated that some severe fighting had taken place, but under the 
greatest disadvantage to the British and native troops, and that the army 
in Cabul had been almost literally annihilated. A capitulation was then 
entered into, by which the remainder of the Anglo-Indian army retired 
from the town, leaving all the sick, wounded, and sixteen ladies, wives of 
officers, behind. They had not, however, proceeded far before they were 
assailed from the mountains by art immense force, when the native troops, 
having fought three days and wading through deep snow, gave way, and 
nearly the whole were massacred. 

HASTENING TO THE RESCUE. 

So terrible a disaster had never visited the British arms since India 
first acknowledged the supremacy of England. A fatal mistake had been 
committed by the former Government, and it was feared that all the 
energy of the new Ministry would be insufficient to maintain that degree 
of influence over the vast and thickly peopled provinces of India, which 
was necessary to ensure the safety of British possessions. The Governor- 
General, Lord Auckland, was recalled, and his place supplied by Lord 
Ellenborough, whose reputation for a correct knowledge of Indian affairs 
was undisputed. His lordship arrived at Calcutta on February 28th, at 
which time Sir Robert Sale was safe at Jellalabad ; but he was most 
critically situated. The garrison, however maintained their post with 
great gallantry, and were able to defy the utmost efforts of the Afghans, 
having in one instance sallied forth and attacked their camp of 6000 men, 
and gained a signal victory. At length General Pollock effected a junc- 
tion with the troops of Sir R. Sale, and released them from a siege of one 



252 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

hundred and fifty-four days' duration ; having previously forced, with very 
little loss, the dreaded pass of the Khyber, twenty-eight miles in length. 
General Nott, also, who advanced from Candahar to meet General Eng- 
land, who had sustained considerable loss at the pass of Kojuck, encoun- 
tered a large force of Afghans, and completely defeated them. But, on 
the other hand, Colonel Palmer surrendered the celebrated fortress of 
Ghuznee on condition that the garrison should be safely conducted to 
Cabul. 

FALL OF GHUZNEE. 

The day of retribution was at hand. General Nott, at the head of 
7000 men, having left Candahar on the 10th of August, proceeded 
towards Ghuznee and Cabul, while General England, with the remainder 
of the troops lately stationed at Candahar, marched back in safety to 
Quetta. On the 30tn of August Shah Shoodeen, the Governor of 
Ghuznee, with nearly the whole of his army, amounting to not less than 
12,000 men, arrived in the neighborhood of the British camp, and General 
Nott prepared to meet him with one-half of his force. The enemy came 
boldly forward, each division cheering as they came into position, and 
occupying their ground in excellent style ; but after a short and spirited 
contest they were completely defeated, and dispersed in every direction, 
their guns, tents, ammunition, etc., falling into the hands of the English. 
On the 5th of September General Nott invested the city of Ghuznee, 
which was strongly garrisoned, while the hills to the north-eastward 
swarmed with soldiery ; but they soon abandoned the place, and the 
British flags were hoisted in triumph on the Bala Hissar. The citadel of 
Ghuznee and other formidable works and defences were razed to the 
ground. 

CAPTURE OF CABUL. 

Early in September General Pollock marched from Gundamuck on 
his way to Cabul. On reaching the hills which commanded the road 
through the pass of Jugdulluck the enemy was found strongly posted and 
in considerable numbers. In this action most of the influential Afghan 
Chiefs were engaged, and their troops manfully maintained their position ; 
but at length the heights were stormed, and, after much arduous exer- 
tion, they were dislodged and dispersed. General Pollock proceeded 
onwards, and does not appear to have encountered any further opposition 
until his arrival, September 13th, in the Tehzear Valley, where an army 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 253 

of 16,000 men, commanded by Akhbar Khan in person, was assembled 
to meet him. A desperate fight ensued ; the enemy was completely 
defeated and driven from the field. On the day following this engage- 
ment the General advanced to Boodkhak, and on the 16th he made his 
triumphal entry into the citadel, and planted the British colors on its 
walls. "Thus," said Lord Ellenborough, in his general orders, "have 
all past disasters been retrieved and avenged on every scene on which 
they were sustained, and repeated victories in the field, and the capture 
of the citadels of Ghuznee and Cabul have advanced the glory and 
established the accustomed superiority of the British arms." 

RELEASE OF CAPTIVES. 

At length the long and anxiously desired liberation of the whole of 
the British prisoners in the hands of the Afghans was effected. Their 
number was 31 officers, 9 ladies and 12 children, with 51 European 
soldiers, 2 clerks and 4 women, making in all 109 persons, who had 
suffered captivity from January 10th to September 27th. It appeared 
.hat, by direction of Akhbar Khan, the prisoners had been taken to 
Bamecan, 90 miles to the westward, and that they were destined to be 
distributed among the Toorkistan chiefs. General Pollock and some other 
officers proposed to the Afghan chief that if he would send them back 
to Cabul they would give him ^2000 at once, and ^1200 a year for 
life. The chief complied, and on the second day they were met by 
Sir Richard Shakspear, with 610 Kuzzilbashes, and shortly afterwards 
by General Sale, with 2000 cavalry and infantry, when they returned 
to Cabul. Besides the Europeans, there were 327 Sepoys found at 
Ghuznee, and 1200 sick and wounded who were begging about Cabul. 
On the arrival of General Nott's division, the resolution adopted by 
the British Government to destroy all the Afghan strongholds was carried 
into execution, though not without resistance, particularly at the town 
and fort of Istaliff, where a strong body of Afghans, led on by Ameer 
Oola, and sixteen of their most determined chiefs, had posted them- 
selves. This town consisted of masses of houses built on the slope of 
a mountain, in the rear of which were lofty eminences, shutting in a de- 
file to Toorkistan. The number of its inhabitants exceeded 15,000, who, 
from their defences and difficulties of approach, considered their position 
unassailable. The greater part of the plunder seized from the British 



2 54 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

was placed there ; the chiefs kept their wives and families in it, and 
many of those who had escaped from Cabul had sought refuge there. Its 
capture, was a work of no very great difficulty, the British troops driv- 
ing the enemy before them with considerable slaughter. The Anglo- 
Indian troops soon afterwards commenced their homeward march in 
three divisions : the first under General Pollock, the second under 
General McCaskill, and the third under General Nott. The first division 
effected their march through the passes without loss, but the second was 
less successful, the mountaineers attacking it near Ali-Musjid, and plun- 
dering it as part of the baggage. General Nott with his division arrived 
in safety, bearing with them the celebrated gates of Somnauth. which it 
is said a Mohammedan conqueror had taken away from an Indian temple, 
and which for eight centuries formed the chief ornament of his tomb 
at Ghuznee. 

CONQUEST OF SCINDE. 

When the expedition to Afghanistan was first undertaken, it was in- 
tended to open the Indus for the transit of British merchandise and 
render it one of the great highways to Asia. The object was not lost 
sight of, though Afghanistan had been abandoned, and endeavors were 
made to obtain from the Ameers of Scinde such a treaty as would secure 
the safe navigation of that river. In December Major Outram was dis- 
patched to Hyderabad to conclude the best terms in his power with the 
native chiefs. Not being in a condition immediately to refuse to give up 
for the use of navigation certain strips of land lying along the river, they 
temporized until at length their troops were collected, when, on the 14th 
of February, they sent word to Major Outram to retire from their city. 
The Major, not supposing they would proceed to extremities, delayed. 
The next day the residence of the British political agent was attacked. 
It was gallantly defended by 100 men for several hours ; but, at length, 
their ammunition having been expended, the British soldiers retired, with 
a small loss, to the steamers, and proceeded to join Sir C. J. Napier, 
then at the head of about 2700 men, at a distance of about twenty miles 
from the capital of the Ameers. The latter hastened, at the head of 
22,000 men, to attack the British force. On the 17th a battle took place 
in which, after a severe struggle of three hours, the Ameers were totally 
routed, although they outnumbered the British force by seven to one. 
The Ameers on the following day surrendered themselves prisoners of 




1850— AMERICAN FASHIONS 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 257 

war, and Hyderabad was occupied by the conquerors. Treasure and 
jewels were found to an amount considerably exceeding ,£1,000,000. 
In consequence of this success, the territories of Scinde, with the excep- 
tion of that portion belonging to Meer Ali, the Morad of Khyrpore, was 
then declared by the Governor-General to be a British province, and Sir 
Charles J. Napier was appointed governor. 

The new governor, however, was not to remain in undisturbed pos- 
session for any length of time. An army of Beloochees, 20,000 strong, 
under the command of Meer Shere Mahmoud, had taken up a strong 
position on the river Fullalie, near the spot where the Ameers of Scinde 
were so signally defeated, and Sir C. J. Napier, on ascertaining the fact, 
resolved to attack them forthwith. On the 24th of March he moved 
from Hyderabad at the head of 5000 men. The battle lasted for three 
hours, when victory was declared for the British. Eleven guns and nine- 
teen standards were taken, and about 1000 of the enemy was killed and 
4.000 wounded, the loss of the British amounting to only 30 killed and 
231 wounded. By this victory the fate of Scinde and Beloochistan was 
■sealed, and the whole territory finally annexed to the Anglo-Indian 
Empire. 

THE BOGUE FORTS. 

At the commencement of 1841 news was brought from China that 
die differences which had existed were in a fair way of settlement, and 
that the war might be considered as at an end. Hostilities had, however, 
recommenced in consequence of Keshen, the Imperial Commissioner, 
having delayed to bring to a conclusion the negotiations entered into 
with Captain Elliot. Preparations were accordingly made for attacking 
the outposts of the Bogue forts on the Bocca Tigris. Having obtained 
possession the steamers were sent to destroy the war-junks in Anson's 
Bay ; but the shallowness of the water admitted only the approach of the 
"Nemesis," towing ten or twelve boats. The junks endeavored to 
escape, but a rocket blew up the powder magazine of one of them, and 
eighteen more, which were set on fire by the English boats' crews, also 
successively blew up. At length a flag of truce was dispatched by the 
Chinese commander, and hostilities ceased. On the 20th of January 
Captain Elliot announced to Her Majesty's subjects in China that the 
following arrangements had been made: 1. The cession of the island 
and harbor of Hong Kong to the British Crown. 2. An indemnity to the 



258 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

British Government of $6,000,000 ; $1,000,000 payable at once, and the 
remainder in equal annual installments, ending in 1846. 3. Direct 
official intercourse between the two countries upon an equal footing. 
4. The trade of the port of Canton to be opened within ten days after 
the Chinese New Year. 

Thus far all appeared as it should be ; but great doubts ot the 
sincerity of Keshen, the Chinese Commissioner, were felt both in Eng- 
land and at Canton. Accordingly the "Nemesis" steamer was sent up 
the river to reconnoitre, and on nearing the Bogue forts (thirty in 
number), it was discovered that preparations for defence had been made; 
batteries and field-works had been thrown up along the shore, and upon 
the islands in the middle of the river a barrier was in course of construc- 
tion across the channel, and there were large bodies of troops assembled 
from the interior. Keshen finding his duplicity discovered, communicated 
that further negotiations would be declined. The Emperor, it appeared, 
had issued edicts repudiating the treaty and denouncing the English 
barbarians, "who were like dogs and sheep in their dispositions." That 
in sleeping or eating he found no quiet, and he therefore ordered 8000 
of his best troops to defend Canton, and to recover the places on the 
coast; for it was absolutely necessary (said the Emperor) "that the 
rebellious foreigners must give up their heads, which, with the prisoners, 
were to be sent to Pekin in cages, to undergo the last penalty of the 
law." He also offered $50,000 for the apprehension of Elliot, Morison 
or Berner alive, or $30,000 for either of their heads. In addition, $5000 
for an officer's head, $500 for an Englishman alive, $300 for a head, and 
$100 for a Sepoy alive. The Emperor also delivered Keshen in irons 
over to the board of punishment at Pekin, and divested the Admiral Kwan 
Teenpei of his button. Before the hostile edicts had appeared Captain 
Elliot, confiding on the good faith of Keshen, had sent orders to General 
Burrel to restore the island of Chusan (which the English had taken 
many months before) to the Chinese, and to return with the Bengal 
Volunteers to Calcutta. This order had been promptly obeyed, Chusan 
having been evacuated February 29th. 

FALL OF CANTON. 

Captain Elliot set sail on February 20th up the Canton River. On 
the 24th he destroyed a masked field-work, disabling eighty cannon there 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 259 

mounted. On the 25th and 26th he took three adjoining Bogue forts 
without losing a man, killing about 250 Chinese and taking 1300 
prisoners. The subsequent operations of the squadron presented one 
unbroken succession of brilliant achievements, until, on the 28th of 
March, Canton, the second city in the Chinese Empire,' containing a 
million of souls, was placed at the mercy of the British troops. After 
some sharp fighting the Canton Governor yielded, and the troops and 
ships were withdrawn on condition of the three commissioners and all 
the troops under them leaving Canton and its vicinity, and $6,000,000 
to be paid within a week, the first million before evening of that day ; if 
the whole was not paid before the end of the week the ransom was to 
be raised to $7,000,000 ; if not before the end of fourteen days, to 
$8,000,000 ; and if not before twenty days, to $9,000,000. After three 
days, the conditions having been fulfilled, the troops left for Hong Kong, 
having had thirteen men killed and ninety-seven wounded. 

CAPTURE OF AMOY. 

Sir Henry Pottinger, the new Plenipotentiary, and Rear-Admiral 
Parker, the new Naval Commander-in-Chief, arrived at Macao on the 
9th of August. A notification of Sir Henry's presence and powers was 
sent to Canton immediately on his arrival, accompanied by a letter for- 
warded to the Emperor at Pekin, the answer to which was required to be 
sent to a northern station. The fleet, consisting of nine ships of war, 
four armed steamers and twenty-two transports, sailed for the island and 
city of Amoy on the 21st of August. The Chinese made an animated 
defence for four hours, and then fled from all their fortifications, and also 
from the city, carrying with them their treasures. The Chinese junks 
and war-boats were all captured ; and the cannon, with immense muni- 
tions of war, of course fell into the hands of the English. Not a single 
man of the British was killed, and only nine were wounded. The next 
day Sir Hugh Gough entered the city at the head of his troops without 
opposition. 

CAPTURE OF SHANGHAI. 

After an arrival of reinforcements the British exposition, on June 
13th, entered the Yang-tse-Kiang, on the banks of which were immense 
fortifications. The fleet at daylight having taken their stations, the 
batteries opened a fire which lasted two hours. The seamen and 



26o STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

marines then landed, and drove the Chinese out of their batteries before 
the troops could be disembarked. Two hundred and fifty-three guns 
were taken, of heavy calibre and n feet long. On the 19th two other 
batteries were taken, in which were 48 guns. The troops then took 
possession of the city of Shanghai. 

TREATY SIGNED AT NANKIN. 

A strong garrison being left behind for the retention of Ching- 
Kiancr-foo, the fleet proceeded towards Nankin, about forty miles distant, 
and arrived on the 6th of August, when preparations were immediately 
made for an attack on the city. A strong force under the command of 
Major-General Lord Saltoun was landed and took up their position to the 
west of the town ; and operations were about to be commenced, when a 
letter was sent off to the plenipotentiary, requesting a truce, as certain 
hich commissioners, specially delegated by the Emperor, and possessed 
of all powers to negotiate, were on their way to treat with the English. 
After several visits and long discussions between the contracting powers, 
the treaty was publicly signed on board the •• Cornwallis " by Sir H. 
Pottinger and the three commissioners. 

Under the terms of this treaty, which was ratified in 1843, tne ports 
of Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo and Shanghai were opened to 
British commerce, and Hong Kong was ceded outright to Great Britain. 
Hong Kong has since become one of the greatest commercial marts of 
the world. 

ANNEXATION OF NATAL. 

A considerable addition was made to the British Empire in South 
Africa in 1842 by the annexation of Natal. This colony had been 
founded largely by the Dutch, who had migrated from Cape Colony in 
the Great Trek. It was, however, always claimed by Great Britain, and 
was recognized by the European powers as being within the British 
sphere of influence. When, therefore, disorders arose, and quarrels be- 
tween the Dutch settlers and the British authorities of the Cape, annexa- 
tion speedily followed. 

O'CONNELL'S AGITATION. 

The union between Great Britain and Ireland, which had been 
effected at the beginning of the century, had all along been a 
source of some dissatisfaction in Ireland. In 1843 this dissatisfaction 
found in Daniel O'Connell a most eloquent voice. He began an 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 26 1 

open movement to secure the repeal of the Act of Union. In August 
1843, he organized a monster mass-meeting on the historic hill of 
Tara, in consequence of which he was arrested in October. Upon 
his liberation, however, he continued his efforts for disunion, or sepa- 
ration, and though he was not successful, he started the movement 
which has continued to the present time, and which led to the great 
Home Rule campaign of Charles S. Parnell. O'Connell's health 
{ailed soon after his separatist campaign was begun, and in 1847 ne died. 

BRITISH INTERESTS. 

The Melbourne ministry in Great Britain went out of office in 1841, 
and Sir Robert Peel became Prime Minister. Thus the way was opened 
for the triumph of the Anti-Corn Law movement and the adoption of free 
trade, which was effected at a later date. In 1844 P ee ^ remodeled the 
Bank of England and granted that institution a new charter. 

On the 30th of May, 1842, as Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, accom- 
panied by Prince Albert, was returning down Constitution Hill to Buck- 
ingham Palace from her afternoon's ride, a young man, named John 
Francis, fired a pistol at the carriage, but without effecting any injury. 
It was supposed that he was incited to this criminal act partly by desper- 
ation, and partly by the eclat awarded to Edward Oxford, who performed 
a similar exploit in June, 1840. The news reached the House of Com- 
mons while the debate on the property tax was in progress, and the 
House broke up. The next day the bill was carried by a majority of 106. 

A joint address congratulating Her Majesty on her happy escape 
was presented from both houses of Parliament on the 1st of June, and a 
form of thanksgiving was sanctioned by the Privy Council. It appeared 
that some danger had been apprehended in consequence of the same per- 
son having been observed in the park on the preceding day ; and Lord 
Portman stated in the House of Lords that Her Majesty in consequence 
would not permit, on the 30th of May, the attendance of those ladies 
whose duty it was to wait upon her on such occasions. Francis was 
examined by the Privy Council, and then committed to Newgate. He 
was tried, found guilty of high treason, and sentenced to be hung, be- 
headed and quartered ; but it was deemed proper to remit the extreme 
penalties and commute his sentence to transportation for life. 

Scarcely more than a month had elapsed when a third attempt, ox 



262 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

pretended attempt, on the life of the Queen was made in St. James's 
Park, Her Majesty being at the time on her way from Buckingham 
Palace to the chapel royal, accompanied by Prince Albert and the King 
of the Belgians. A lad, about eighteen years of age, named John 
William Bean, was observed to present a pistol at Her Majesty's car- 
riage by a youth named Dasset, who seized him and related the cir- 
cumstances to two policemen. They treated it as a joke and Bean 
was allowed to depart, but he was subsequently apprehended at his 
father's house and committed to prison. On his examination he per- 
sisted in asserting that there was nothing but powder and paper in the 
pistol, and that he did not intend to hurt the Queen. In fact, he ap- 
peared to be one of those weak beings who seem actuated by a morbid 
desire of notoriety. 

TWO REVOLUTIONS. 

In a former chapter we told of the flight of the Queen-Regent of 
Spain and the assumption of sovereign power by General Espartero 
under sanction of the Cortes. In 1843 a bloodless revolution, led by 
General Narvaez, put an end to Espartero's regency, and the young 
Queen, Isabella II, was declared to be of age and competent to rule in 
person. 

In the same year a revolution arose in Greece against the absolute 
rule of King Otho. That sovereign was compelled to promise the grant- 
ing of a constitutional form of government, and in the following year 
that promise was fulfilled, though much against the will of the King. 

A fatal blow at the Bourbon dynasty in France was struck in 1842 
when the young Duke of Orleans, eldest son of Louis Philippe, was acci- 
dentally killed. He was by far the ablest and most popular member of 
N the house, and the only one whose hold upon the public regard was 
sufficient to command the loyalty of the nation. 

The French campaigns in Africa were continued in 1 844 by the de- 
feat of Abd-el-Kader, the Algerian chieftain. His ally, the Emperor of 
Morocco, was also disastrously defeated, and was glad to sue for peace, 
which was granted to him. 

The brothers Bandiera attempted a revolution in Southern Italy, but 
failed and were put to death. 

In 1844 also Charles XIV of Sweden was succeeded by his son, 
Oscar I. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Fremont Explores the Rocky Mountains — Newspapers — Telegraphy — 

Wheatstone's System — Greenough's "Washington" — 

Labor Troubles — Francia, the Dictator — 

Autocracy Extraordinary. 



THE period of the Harrison-Tyler administration was signalized in 
the United States by a noteworthy advance in the exploration of 
what was then the great wilderness west of the Mississippi River. 
The leader in this work, who thus grained for himself the well de- 
served name of "The Pathfinder," was John Charles Fremont, a native 
of Georgia, of French Huguenot ancestry. He had for some time been 
in the employ of the Government as an engineer, when in 1838 he laid 
before the War Department a plan for the exploration of the Rocky 
Mountains and the region beyond them. His plan was approved, and 
accordingly he proceeded with the work. In 1842 he explored the South 
Pass. Next he planned an expedition to Oregon, and in pursuance 
thereof he approached the mountains by a new route, explored the region 
between the South Pass and the Great Salt Lake, and various other parts 
of the mountain range. Another expedition led by him made its way 
across the mountains into upper California, exploring the great basin 
since called Fremont's Basin, the Sierra Nevada, and the San Joaquin 
and Sacramento valleys. Finally, in 1845, ne set out on tnat memorable 
expedition to the Pacific coast which resulted in the acquisition of Cali- 
fornia by the United States. 

NEWSPAPERS. 

It was fitting that in times so full ol stirring incidents there should 
be marked progress in the means of recording current history. Long 
before the opening of the nineteenth century the newspaper press had 
become a well established institution. But at about the time at which we 
are now writing its expansion in the United States was particularly 
marked. Of the great morning papers now in existence in New Yorl^ 

263 



264 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

the " Sun " was the first in the field, having been started as a one-cent 
paper in 1833. ft was followed in 1835 Dv tne "Herald." The year 
1 84 1 saw the " Tribune " founded by Horace Greeley, and ten years later 
the "Times" appeared. 

These papers were in 1841 printed on the single-cylinder presses, 
which had been invented by Robert Hoe in 1832. That press continued 
in use until 1847, but in 1845 Mr. Hoe invented the type-revolving 
press, and this machine rapidly came into use in all parts of the world. 
It held the field until 1868-71, when the web-perfecting press came into 
use, invented by Mr. Bullock, of Philadelphia, Mr. Walters, of the 
London "Times," and Mr. Hoe. The use of stereotype plates had 
meanwhile been found practicable in the New York " Tribune " office 
first of all in America. If to this we add the introduction of the lineotype 
and other type-setting or casting devices, about 1 880, and that of photo- 
engraving processes for illustration, ten years later, the modern history 
of newspapers is covered in outline. 

TELEGRAPHY. 

The electric telegraph, one of the newspaper's most important ad- 
juncts, and one of the most valuable inventions of modern times, dates 
also from the period which we have under consideration. As is the case 
of other devices, its actual origin is in dispute. Wheatstone, of Eng 
land, was one of the first — perhaps the first — to make a practical tele- 
graph system. The distinction was also claimed by Professor Morse, an 
American, who, as he said, invented the first electro-magnetic telegraph 
while on his passage from Havre to New York in 1832. His contriv- 
ance included a pen at one end of a wire, which, as contact was made or 
broken, produced an arbitrary alphabet of dots and strokes, which might 
represent definite characters. An experiment with a circuit of ten miles 
was tried before several scientific men, well known in the United States, 
and members of Congress ; and the result being favorable, a sum of 
money was voted by the Government for a trial on a larger scale. The 
account of these proceedings appears not to have been published earlier 
than 1837 ; meantime Baron Schilling, of St. Petersburg, had constructed 
an electric telegraph, but died before its complete development. By his 
method, movements were imparted to five needles, out of which a code 
of signals was formed. Gauss and Weber's experiments and deductions, 




HENRY CLAY 




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JOHN CALDWELL CALhOU'- 




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1450— EMINENT STATESMEN OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 




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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



267 



published in 1834, brought the possibility of electro-telegraphy still more 
within reach. To these two philosophers the theory of the science is 
materially indebted. The first-mentioned, the venerable professor of 
Gottingen, has been called its father, such are the sagacity and insight 
which he had brought to bear on so intricate a subject. 

We come now to 1837, tne year in which the projects of electro- 
telegraphy became available realities. Steinheil, of Munich, succeeded 
in sending a current from one end to the other of a wire 36,000 feet 
in length, the action of which caused two needles to vibrate from side to 
side, and strike a bell at each movement. The bells were made to differ 
in tone, so as to indicate distinctly right and left signals ; at the same time 
to combine a phonic and a written alphabet ; certain points tipped with 
ink impressed dots upon a band of paper, and recorded the desired mes- 
sage. In the course of his researches Steinheil proved a fact, the most 
interesting, perhaps, in telegraphic science, that instead of using two 
wires, the earth would serve to complete the circuit. This verification of 
a phenomenon so extraordinary in its nature was attended with the most 
important results in the economy of telegraphs, and tends more to keep 
Steinheil's name in memory than his mechanical apparatus, which was 
said to be too complicated and tedious in operation for anyone but a 
German. 

WHEATSTONE'S SYSTEM. 

It was in 1837 also that Wheatstone, whose name is so intimately 
associated with telegraphic progress in England, took out his first patent 
for an electric telegraph. He had been led to the invention by his expe- 
riments to determine the philosophy of electricity in 1834, and proposed 
a system of five conducting wires in connection with as many needles, 
which indicated the letters of the alphabet at the rate of twenty a minute. 
Attention was to be drawn to the signals by the stroke of a bell, form- 
ing part of the apparatus. 

In 1840 Wheatstone had made improvements which greatly simpli- 
fied his first methods. The number of wires was reduced to two, while 
the power of the instrument was increased, for thirty letters could be in- 
dicated in a minute. Besides this, the same inventor showed that the 
passage of a current afforded means for other spheres of observation. 
Travelling at a speed that would circumvolate the globe seven or eight 
times in a second, it might measure the rate of motion of projectiles, or 



2 68 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

regulate the movement of all the clocks in the country ; and by an addi- 
tional contrivance, the place of fracture in a wire could be ascertained 
without examining its whole length. A telegraphic wire was to bring 
down from a balloon, stationary at a considerable height, the readings of 
a set of philosophical instruments ; to record the state of fluctuations of 
a barometer, thermometer, hygrometer and magnetometer. 

The employment of the printing apparatus in 1843 gave to the elec- 
tric telegraph a wider and completer efficiency. This contrivance, when 
attached to the telegraph machinery, and set in motion by wheelwork, 
caused a ribbon of chemically prepared paper to pass under a fine steel 
point, which imprinted a series of arbitrary characters — dots and strokes 
— simultaneously with their transmission from the other end of the tele- 
graph, however distant. Although seventy or eighty characters could be 
produced in a minute, the whole process was tedious, as the message 
had first to be punched in a strip of paper and then written off after its 
delivery. In America the preliminary punching was avoided by making 
the operator open or close the galvanic circuit for longer or shorter in- 
tervals, by pressing on the spring-key of the telegraph, according to the 
duration strokes or dots were produced. 

A successful telegraph line was constructed by Morse in 1844 be- 
tween Baltimore and Washington, and it was the beginning of the vast 
network of wires that now covers this continent. 

GREENOUGH'S WASHINGTON. 

Artistic progress in the United States was signalized during this ad- 
ministration by the completion of Greenough's famous statue of Wash- 
ington. Its creator. Horatio Greenough, was a native of Boston, a 
student at Hartford, and a protegee of Washington Allston. He 
studied art under Thorwaldsen at Rome, and was the author of a number 
of pieces of sculpture which commanded the highest praise and stamped 
him as one of the foremost artists of his time. By a curious coincidence 
his teacher, Thorwaldsen, died in 1844, just as Greenough was reach- 
ing the height of his success. 

The same year saw the death of Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire, the famous 
French naturalist. Robert Southey, the English poet-laureate and one 
of the most prolific writers of that or any age, died in the preceding 
year. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



269 



One of the most striking literary incidents of the time was the pub- 
lication, in 1844, °f Eugene Sue's romance, " The Wandering Jew." 

We must note, also, the first visit of Charles Dickens to the United 
States. The famous novelist made a tour of the country, lecturing and 
reading from his works. He was everywhere received with the greatest 
possible honors and enthusiasm. One disagreeable result of his visit 
was, however, the publication of his " American Notes " and other 
writings, in which the United States was severely criticised and cari- 
catured. 

The city of Hamburg, Germany, was ravaged by a disastrous fire 
in May, 1842. The next year the Thames tunnel, then deemed one of 
the engineering wonders of the world, was completed and opened to 
the public. 

We have elsewhere spoken of the Bunker Hill monument. It was 
completed and dedicated, with an oration by Daniel Webster, on June 
17, 1843. 

LABOR TROUBLES. 

From time to time labor troubles demand notice in the history of the 
United States and of the world. In April, 1834, the laborers on the 
Providence Railroad struck at Mansfield, Mass., and became riotous. 
The Massachusetts militia was called out to suppress their disorders, and 
succeeded in so doing. In August, 1835, the operatives of twenty mills 
in Paterson, N. J., struck for shorter hours of work. This seems to have 
been a determined struggle, but the strikers lost their points of conten- 
tion, and $24,000 in wages besides. The ten-hour-day agitation was 
continued by the coal handlers of Philadelphia in May, 1835, though 
without decisive result, while the same year the journeymen shoemakers 
again struck for shorter hours and more pay, and again carried their 
point. Next in order came the dam-builders in Maine, in July, 1836, with 
their successful contention for the right to smoke at work ; and of the 
fifteen strikes between that year and 1842, so meagre are the statistics, 
it is apparent barely that ten were successful, and three without positive 
advantage to either side. 

The first strike of the ironmakers of Pittsburg, of which there seems 
to be record, is that of February 5, 1842. They demanded a fixed wage 
scale, and lost five months' wages and the strike. In August of the same 
year the weavers of Philadelphia struck for more wages, and were as 



270 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

disorderly, in their way, it seems, as the tailors of Tooley street. They 
raised a great deal of row, and their disorders were not quieted until 
January, 1843, when there was a settlement in the nature of a compro- 
mise. The strike of the brickmakers in May, 1843, was attended by 
rioting and considerable destruction of property, but there was no decided 
advantage to either party to the contest. In May, 1845, tne ironworkers 
of Pittsburg struck again, this time for $6.00 instead of $5.00 a ton, and 
this time they were successful. 

FRANCIA, THE DICTATOR. 

The year 1842 witnessed the end of one of the strangest chapters in 
the annals of human government, in the death of one man, who may be 
pronounced the most remarkable personage that has figured in the 
modern history of South America. This was Gaspar Rodrigo de 
Francia, commonly known as Doctor Francia. He was a native of 
Paraguay, and never was out of South America. He was educated by 
the monks of Assumpcion, and subsequently at the University of Cor- 
dova, in Tucuman, where he received the degree of Doctor of Theology 
This man became dictator of Paraguay, and for nearly thirty years reigned 
over that country with a despotic tyranny surpassing that of any European 
monarch. 

On the breaking out of the revolution, Francia was in the practice 
of the law at Assumpcion. He was elected to a popular office, behaved 
independently, flattered no party, and professed his sole political object 
to be the entire separation of Paraguay from Spain, and its erection into 
an independent republic. On the establishment of the Provincial Junta, 
he was appointed Secretary of that body, with a deliberative voice ; but 
all was confusion. The army, as usual on such occasions, seemed 
inclined to take the lead, and, for a time, terror and dissension alone 
prevailed. Francia, however, at this critical moment, obtained an ascen- 
dancy which he never afterwards lost. His superior talents, address and 
information placed him above all others in the despatch of business, 
and nothing of importance could be done without him. Tranquillity was 
restored, and it was settled that the Government should be consular. 
Francia and a colleague were appointed consuls for one year, each in 
supreme command four months at a time. Francia took care to secure 
for his share the first and last portions of the year. Two cur ale chairs 



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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



2 73 



were prepared on this occasion ; one bearing the name of Caesar, and the 
other that of Pompey. Francia eagerly took possession of the former. 
His ambitious views no one could mistake ; but the grand blow yet 
remained to be struck. By the most consummate art and management, 
and by the influence which he possessed over the troops, he succeeded 
in getting himsell appointed dictator in 1814; and once dictator, every 
instrument was within his reach for the prolongation of his office. Three 
years afterwards he was made dictator for life. 

AUTOCRACY EXTRAORDINARY. 

Now commenced one of the most extraordinary events in all history, 
the reign of the autocrat of Paraguay. From the moment when he found 
his footing firm, and his authority quietly submitted to, his whole charac- 
ter appeared to undergo a sudden change. Without faltering or hesita- 
tion, without a pause of human weakness, or a thrill of human feeling, he 
proceeded to frame the most extraordinary despotism that the world has 
ever seen. He reduced all the population of Paraguay to two classes, 
of which the dictator constituted one, and his subjects the other. In the 
dictator was lodged the whole power, legislative and executive ; the 
people had no power, no privileges, no rights, and only one duty — to 
obey. All was performed rapidly, boldly and decisively. He knew the 
character of the weak and ignorant people at whose head he had placed 
himself, and who had the temerity to presume that they possessed energy 
and virtue sufficient to found a republic. The middle classes were 
annihilated, and there was no gradation between ruler and populace. 

By what precise means he was enabled to obtain so extraordinary a 
power, and to preserve it, undisturbed by revolution or popular disaffec- 
tion, during a long period, in which every other State of Spanish America 
has been constantly shaken with intestine convulsions, can be understood 
perhaps only by those who are familiar with the character of the South 
Americans. But the fact is no less authentic than extraordinary, that the 
inhabitants of Paraguay delivered themselves up, bound hand and foot 
into the power of an unrelenting and ferocious despot, who reduced them 
to absolute slavery, ruined their commerce and agriculture, shut them up 
from the rest of the world, and dragged to the prison or the scaffold 
every man in the country whose talents, wealth or knowledge opposed 

any obstacle in the way of his tyranny. 
is 



274 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

One of his first measures was to cut off all intercourse with every 
place beyond the boundaries of Paraguay. No human being was allowed 
to leave the country or despatch a letter abroad. In enforcing this pro- 
hibition, the dictator was assisted by the peculiar geographical features 
of the country. In the midst of an immense and thinly-peopled conti- 
nent, it stands alone and impenetrable, surrounded by large rivers and 
extensive forests and morasses, frequented only by ferocious savages, 
wild beasts and venomous serpents. The vigilant guard maintained by 
the troops of the dictator, at all accessible points of his Empire, enabled 
him to isolate it completely from the rest of the world. The only possi- 
bility of escape was by seizing the occasion when the river Paraguay 
overflowed the surrounding plains, by which means a small number of 
individuals have succeeded in eloping from the tyrant's dominion, and 
acquainting the world with the internal policy of this extraordinary 
Empire. Foreign travellers, who were visiting that region for scientific 
purposes, were imprisoned with the dictator's subjects, and escaped 
by good fortune after long and tedious detention. When the indepen- 
dence of the South American republics was acknowledged by Great 
Britain, a notification of this event was sent to Francia, with a request 
that all British subjects in his realms might be set at liberty. This fortu- 
nately procured the release of all the English in Paraguay. 

Several conspiracies were formed against him, but none with any 
success. The sanguinary punishments which followed their detection 
served to strike a deeper terror into the people and render their sub- 
mission more abject. His regular army consisted of 5000 men, from 
whom he always took care to exclude all persons of education or belong- 
ing to wealthy families. Very strict discipline was enforced in all that 
related to their conduct as soldiers ; but when off duty, they were at 
perfect liberty, led licentious lives, and were seldom reprimanded for any 
misconduct toward the citizens. It is easy to understand why an army like 
this should feel unbounded attachment to its master. The dictator, how- 
ever, lived in constant fear of assassination ; his guards were sometimes 
ordered to shoot any man who should dare to look at his house in passing 
through the street. He cooked his own victuals, in apprehension of 
poison, and never smoked a cigar without previously unrolling it, for the 
same reason. His conduct on many occasions exhibited eccentricities 
similar to those of Charles XII, of Sweden. 



CHAPTER XXII 



James K. Polk becomes President of the United States — The Mexican 
War— General Taylor at the Front— Palo Alto— Monterey— President 
Santa Anna — Taylor Resumes Operations — Buena Vista — Scott at 
Vera Cruz — Cerro Gordo — Two Bloody Battles — Suing for 
Peace — Capture of the City of Mexico — Conquest of New 
Mexico — Fremont's Conquest of California — Treaty of 
Guadalupe Hidalgo — The Wilmot Proviso — Dis- 
covery of Gold — Close of the Administration 
—The Free Soil Party. 



IN 1845, Mr. Tyler was succeeded as President of the United States 
by James Knox Polk. Mr. Polk was the Democratic candidate ; and, 
after a very exciting electioneering contest, he received 1 70 electoral 
votes for President ; and Henry Clay, the Whig candidate, received 
105 votes. 

The party by which Mr. Polk was supported took strong ground in 
favor of the annexation of Texas, and the claim of the United States to 
the whole of the Oregon Territory; and Mr. Polk, in his inaugural 
address, sustained the views of his party on both of these questions ; 
one of which threatened to involve the nation in hostilities with Mexico, 
and the other with Great Britain. 

The settlement of the north-western boundary, between the United 
States and the North American territories of Great Britain, involving 
the claims of both parties to the Oregon Territory, had long been a 
subject of negotiation ; and it now assumed a threatening aspect But 
it was happily adjusted by a treaty, concluded at Washington, in June, 
1846, fixing on the 49th degree of north latitude as the boundary 
line. 

On the recommendation of the President, Congress passed, in July, 
1846, a new tariff law, having a primary view to the interests of the 
public revenue, and withdrawing, in a great measure, the protection to 
domestic industry afforded by the tariff of r842. 

275 



276 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

THE MEXICAN WAR. 

The war with Mexico grew out of the annexation of Texas to the 
United States. Texas, which was formerly a province of Mexico, 
declared its independence in 1836; and, from that time, it had maintained 
a separate Republican government ; but its independence had not been 
acknowledged by Mexico. In March, 1845, immediately after the 
passage of the resolutions of Congress in favor of the annexation, 
General Almonte, the Mexican Minister to the United States, remon- 
strated against these resolutions, and demanded his passports ; and all 
diplomatic intercourse between the two governments was immediately 
broken off. 

The boundaries of Texas were never definitely settled. The gov- 
ernment of Texas and the United States maintained that the South- 
western boundary of that country was formed by the Rio Grande ; but 
the Mexicans contended that that boundary was formed by the River 
Nueces. The country between these two rivers was disputed territory, 
both parties claiming it. It was on this disputed territory that hostilities 
commenced ; and each party charged the other with being the aggressor. 

In July, 1845, tne Legislature of Texas ratified the resolutions of 
Congress, by which that Republic was annexed to the United States, 
and requested President Polk to take immediate measures to defend the 
new State against an apprehended attack from Mexico. An American 
squadron was accordingly dispatched to the Gulf of Mexico, and 
General Zachary Taylor was ordered to proceed to the southern frontier 
of Texas, with a sufficient force for its defence. 

GENERAL TAYLOR AT THE FRONT. 

In March, 1846, General Taylor, having previously concentrated 
an army of about 4000 men at Corpus Christi, received orders from the 
United States government to move forward, into the disputed territory, 
to the Rio Grande. He accordingly took a position on the left bank of 
that river, opposite to Matamoras, where he erected a fort ; and, at the 
same time, he established a depot of supplies at Point Isabel, upwards 
of twenty miles in his rear, near the coast. 

A Mexican force of about 8000 men was soon assembled on the 
Rio Grande, at and near Matamoras, under the command of Generals 
A apudia and Arista, who declared the advance of General Taylor with 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 277 

his army to be a hostile movement. On the 24th of April, General 
Arista informed General Taylor that " he considered hostilities com- 
menced, and should prosecute them." On the same day a party of 
63 American dragoons, under Captain Thornton, who had been 
despatched to reconnoitre, were surprised by a large Mexican force, 
[6 being killed and wounded, and the rest taken prisoners. 

A few days afterwards, the greater part of the Mexican army 
crossed the river, and General Taylor, being informed that they intended 
to attack Point Isabel, where his military stores were deposited, marched 
to the relief of that place, which he reached unmolested. The garrison 
there having been strengthened by a reinforcement of 500 sailors and 
marines, from the American squadron in the Gulf of Mexico, he began, 
on the 7th of May, to retrace his steps to the Rio Grande. 

PALO ALTO. 

About noon the next day he encountered the Mexican army, of 
6000 men, at Palo Alto ; and, after an action of five hours, he drove 
them from the field, with the loss of nearly 400 in killed and wounded. 
The Americans, whose number was about 2300, lost about 50 in killed 
and wounded, and among the former was the lamented Major Ringgold. 

On the following day, after advancing three miles, the American 
army again met the Mexicans, strongly posted at Resaca de la Palma, 
and completely routed them, killing and wounding about 600, taking a 
large number of prisoners, among whom was General La Vega, and 
capturing all the cannon and military stores of the enemy. A few days 
after this battle, General Taylor crossed the Rio Grande, and took 
possession of Matamoras, which had been left by the Mexican troops. 

MONTEREY. 

After three months' preparation, General Taylor, with an army of 
between 6000 and 7000 men, proceeded to attack the strongly fortified 
city of Monterey, the capital of the State of New Leon, which was 
garrisoned by about 10,000 Mexican troops, commanded by General 
Ampudia. 

The American army reached Monterey on the 19th of September, 
1846, and, on the 21st, assaulted the city with the view of taking it by 
storm ; and, after a severe and sanguinary struggle of three days, they 



2 7% STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

became masters of the principal defences, and the greater part of tha 
city. On the 24th, General Ampudia proposed terms of capitulation, 
which were accepted, and the Mexican army evacuated Monterey. At 
the same time, General Taylor agreed to an armistice of eight weeks, 
subject to the ratification of the governments at Washington and 
Mexico. 

PRESIDENT SANTA ANNA. 

While these events were taking place near the Rio Grande, General 
Santa Anna, ex-President of Mexico, and the most distinguished military 
commander of that country, had returned from exile, and had over- 
thrown the government of President Paredes, who was at the head of 
the party supposed to be most in favor of prosecuting the war with the 
United States. Strong hopes were entertained by the American gov- 
ernment that the influence of Santa Anna, on his restoration to power, 
would be exerted in favor of peace ; and the President accordingly had 
given orders to the naval commander in the Gulf of Mexico, to throw 
no obstacles in the way of his return. But these expectations proved to 
be ill-founded ; and, under his administration, the Mexicans were roused 
to greater efforts, than they had hitherto made, to repel their invaders. 

Under these circumstances, the American government resolved to 
strike a decisive blow, by attacking Vera Cruz, the principal Mexican 
port and fortress, with the intention of thereby gaining access to the 
heart of the country, and to the capital of the Republic, for the avowed 
purpose of " conquering a peace." General Winfield Scott was accord- 
ingly ordered to take the chief command of all the forces in Mexico, and 
to conduct the expedition against Vera Cruz. 



TAYLOR RESUMES OPERATIONS. 

The armistice, which General Taylor had concluded at Monterey, 
was not approved by the authorities at Washington ; and, in November, 
his army resumed offensive operations, and speedily overran and sub- 
dued the States of Coahuila and Tamaulipas. About this time, how- 
ever, General Scott arrived at the seat of war, and withdrew from 
General Taylor the principal part of his army, including nearly all of the 
regular troops, to augment the forces destined to besiege Vera Cruz. 

In February, 1847, General Taylor formed a camp of about 5000 
men, mostly volunteers, of Agua Nueva, near the city of Saltillo. On 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 27Q 

the 20th of the month, he learned that Santa Anna, with 20,000 troops, 
had arrived within 30 miles of him, by a series of forced marches from 
San Luis Potosi, 300 miles distant, across a barren country, almost 
destitute of water. General Taylor immediately broke up his camp, and 
fell back 1 1 miles to Buena Vista, where he posted his army in a very 
strong position, protected by deep ravines and rugged mountainous 
ridges. 

BUENA VISTA. 

On the 2 2d of February, the Mexican army appeared before the 
American lines, and Santa Anna summoned General Taylor to sur- 
render, which the latter declined to do. Some skirmishing ensued ; but 
the battle did not begin until the 23d, when the Mexicans attempted, by 
repeated charges, to force the American lines. Notwithstanding some 
partial success, achieved by their immense superiority of force, they 
were, at length, completely repulsed : and, after a fierce and sanguinary 
contest, which lasted throughout the day, the Americans remained 
masters of the field. During the night, the Mexicans abandoned their 
camp, and retreated, in a state of great disorder, towards San Luis 
Potosi, from whence they had advanced. The Americans' loss, in this 
battle, was 723 killed and wounded, and that of the Mexicans amounted 
to about 2000. 

SCOTT AT VERA CRUZ. 

On the 9th of March, 1847, General Scott landed near Vera Cruz, 
with an army of about 12,000 men. The city was immediately invested, 
and after a furious bombardment of several days, during which the 
destruction of life and property was very great, the Mexican com- 
mander, on the 29th of March, capitulated and surrendered the city, and 
also the famous fortress of San Juan d'Ulloa, together with 5000 prison- 
ers and 400 pieces of artillery. 

Early in April the American army began its march from Vera Cruz 
to the city of Mexico. At the mountain pass of Cerro Gordo, about 50 
miles from Vera Cruz, it encountered the Mexican army, commanded by 
President Santa Anna, consisting of 12,000 or 15,000 men, strongly 
entrenched in an almost impregnable position. 

CERRO GORDO. 

On the 1 8th of April, the Americans, who numbered 8500, began 
the assault, and in a few hours carried by storm all the batteries and 



280 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

entrenchments of the Mexicans, who fled in confusion, leaving in the 
hands of the victors about 3000 prisoners, 4000 or 5000 stand of 
arms, and 43 pieces of artillery. Among the prisoners were five gen- 
erals, one of whom, La Vega, had before been captured in the battle of 
Resaca de la Palma. The American loss in this engagement was 431 
killed and wounded ; the Mexican loss, about three times as 
many. 

The victory of Cerro Gordo was followed by the immediate sur- 
render of the city of Jalapa, and the strong fortress of Perote, and, on 
the 15th of May, the Americans entered Puebla, the most important city 
in Mexico, next to the capital. Here, the army, which had been 
diminished by death, sickness, and the departure of volunteers, to about 
5000 effective men, remained nearly three months, waiting for reinforce- 
ments and supplies. 

TWO BLOODY BATTLES. 

On the 7th of August, 1847, reinforcements having arrived, General 
Scott began his march from Puebla to the city of Mexico, at the head of 
about 1 1,000 men. On the 18th, the army reached the hamlet of San 
Augustin, 10 miles south of the capital; and, on the 20th, two sanguinary 
battles were fought with a Mexican force of more than 30,000 men, who 
were stationed in and around the strongly fortified posts that defended 
the approaches to the city. In the first battle, that of Contreras, 4500 
Americans assaulted, and, in less than twenty minutes, drove from their 
entrenchments, 7000 Mexicans, killing 700 and taking 813 prisoners, 
besides many colors and standards, and 22 pieces of artillery. In the 
second battle, that of Churubusco, the disparity of force was even 
greater, and the Mexican loss still more severe — about 6000 Americans 
engaging and completely routing almost the whole Mexican army. 
General Scott thus speaks of the achievements of the army under his 
command on this occasion: "It has in a single day, in many bat- 
tles, defeated 32,000 men ; made about 3000 prisoners, including 
8 generals (two of them ex-Presidents) and 205 other officers ; killed or 
wounded 4000 of all ranks, besides entire corps dispersed and dissolved ; 
captured 37 pieces of ordnance, — more than trebling our siege train 
and field batteries, — with a large number of small arms, a full supply 
of ammunition of every kind, etc. Our loss amounts to 1 053 — killed, 
139, including 16 officers ; wounded, 876, including 60 officers." 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 28 1 



SUING FOR PEACE. 



These rapid and decisive victories caused such consternation among 
the Mexicans that General Scott might at once have forced his way into 
the city ; but he forebore to do so, not wishing to drive the people to 
desperation, and, to use his own words: "willing to leave something to 
the Republic on which to rest her pride and recover temper." Accord 
ingly, he acceded to a request made by President Santa Anna for an 
armistice, the terms of which were agreed upon and signed on the 23d 
of August. 

Mr. Nicholas Trist, a commissioner appointed by the President of 
the United States, had arrived in Mexico some months before, and was 
now in General Scott's camp. Negotiations for peace were immediately 
commenced between him and commissioners appointed by the Mexican 
government. But as the latter proposed terms that were not satis- 
factory, and the Mexican military commanders were violating the terms 
of the armistice by erecting and strengthening fortifications, General 
Scott recommenced hostilities on the 7th of September. 

CAPTURE OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. 

On the following day, a division of the American army, 3200 in 
number, commanded by General Worth, carried by storm the strong 
position of El Molino del Ray, which was held by above 14,000 Mexi- 
cans, under the command of Pesident Santa Anna. The Mexican loss 
in this action, which was perhaps the most fiercely contested of the 
whole war, amounted to 3000 in killed, wounded and captured. The 
Americans lost, in killed and wounded, nearly 800, about one-fourth of 
the number engaged. 

Five days afterwards, the fortress of Chapultepec, situated on a 
steep, rocky hill, 1 50 feet in height, was stormed, and the army which 
supported it was routed and driven into the city; the victorious Ameri- 
cans followed, and, by nightfall, one division of their army was within 
the gates of Mexico, while another occupied the suburbs. During the 
night, the shattered remnant of the Mexican army, and the members of 
the Federal government and Congress, fled from the city, of which the 
Americans took full possession on the next day, September 14th, 1847. 

The total loss of General Scott's army, in these battles before 
Mexico, amounted to about 2700 in killed and wounded. The number 



282 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

of American troops that entered and took possession of this city of 
140,000 inhabitants was less than 6000. 

CONQUEST OF NEW MEXICO. 

Besides the invasions of Mexico by the armies commanded by 
Generals Taylor and Scott, another was conducted by General Kearny, 
who, in the latter part of June, 1846, set out from Missouri, at the head 
of 1600 men, mostly volunteers from that State, for the purpose of con- 
quering New Mexico. 

After a fatiguing march of about tooo miles across the prairies, 
General Kearny arrived at Santa Fe, of which he took possession, 
without opposition, on the 18th of August. He immediately declared 
himself Governor of New Mexico, and issued a proclamation, ab^olv'ng 
the people from their allegiance to the Mexican government, and con- 
stituting them citizens of the United States. 

In December, 1846, Colonel Doniphan, a volunteer from the State 
of Missouri, departed from Santa Fe, at the head of 900 men, to invade 
the Mexican State of Chihuahua. At Bracito, on the Rio Grande, a 
division of this force, 500 in number, encountered 1200 Mexicans, whom 
they put to flight, with a loss of about 200 in killed and wounded, while 
the Americans had none killed, and only 7 wounded. 

Two months later, on the 28th of February, 1847, at the Pass of 
Sacramento, Colonel Doniphan's little army met and defeated 40CO 
Mexicans, commanded by the Governor of the State, and occupying a 
strong position, defended by heavy artillery. On the following day, 
March I, they took possession of the important city of Chihuahua. 

FREMONT'S CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA. 

In the summer of 1846, Captain (afterwards Colonel) Fremont, who, 
with a party of about 600 men, was exploring California by ordei of the 
President of the United States, became involved in hostilities with the 
Mexican Governor of that province. With the aid of a few American 
settlers, Fremont defeated the Mexican forces, which were much superior 
in number; and, on learning that war existed between the United States 
and Mexico, he raised the American flag, and in conjunction with Com- 
modore Stockton, who commanded the United States fleet in the Pacific, 
prosecuted the conquest of the country with such success, that, by the end 
of August, the whole of California was in possession of the Americans. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 283 

TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO. 

Soon after the conquest of the city of Mexico, by General Scott, 
negotiations for peace began, which resulted in a treaty concluded on 
the 2d of February, 1848, at the city of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and ratified, 
with some modifications, by the American Senate on the 10th of the 
following March. By its provisions Mexico ceded to the United States 
the provinces of New Mexico and Upper California, and agreed to accept 
the Rio Grande as the boundary between her territories and Texas. The 
territory acquired from Mexico by this treaty, including Texas as well as 
New Mexico and California, amounts, according to the statement of Presi- 
dent Polk in his message to Congress in December, 1848, to 851,598 
square miles. The United States, in return, stipulated to pay Mexico 
$15,000,000, and assume the debts due to citizens of the United States 
by the Mexican government to the amount of $3,500,000. 

THE WILMOT PROVISO. 

The conclusion of peace with Mexico, in February, 1848, added to 
the United States an enormous territory, comprising the present States 
and Territories of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and 
part of Colorado. Such a result had been foreseen. Indeed, it was largely 
to acquire such territory that many political leaders, especially in the 
Southern States, had favored the war with Mexico, and their ultimate 
object was the creation of new slave States south of the line established 
by the Missouri Compromise. In order to prevent such increase of slave 
power in Congress, in 1846 David Wilmot, a member of Congress from 
Pennsylvania, offered a resolution providing that slavery should be for- 
ever prohibited in all the territory that should be acquired from Mexico. 
This resolution has become historic as the Wilmot Proviso, and it marked 
the turning-point in the history of the slave power; for, while it failed to, 
pass Congress and be enacted into law, it formulated a policy which was 
adopted by the free States, and which finally was triumphant. As in 
matter of fact, no new slave State, excepting Texas, was ever admitted 
to the Union. 

DISCOVERY OF GOLD. 

The end of the Mexican War brought on the settlement and devel- 
opment of California. The agricultural wealth of that State would have 
led to its general colonization had there been no more potent causes. 



284 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

But early in 1848 particles of gold were discovered in ground that was 
being turned up for the construction of a mill in the Sacramento valley, 
about forty miles up the Sacramento, at a place known as Sutter's Fort. 
At a considerable distance from this place, higher up, Captain Sutter, 
desirous of erecting a sawmill, contracted for that purpose with a Mr. 
Marshall in September, 1847. When completed, and the water was let 
on to the wheel, the tail-race was found to be too narrow to allow the 
water to escape with sufficient rapidity. To save labor, Mr. Marshall 
let the water directly into the race with a strong current, so as to wash 
it wider and deeper. He effected his purpose, and a large bed of mud 
and gravel was carried to the foot of the race. 

One day Mr. Marshall, as he was walking down the race to this 
deposit of mud, observed some glittering particles at its upper edge. 
He gathered a few, examined them, and became satisfied of their value. 
Repairing to the fort, he made known the discovery to Captain Sutter 
and his impressions of its importance. Such were the circumstances 
which led to the discovery of gold in that region. Soon after other dis- 
coveries of gold were made, and in 1849 occurred the great rush of gold- 
seekers to that country. Within a year's time the population of Califor- 
nia was large enough to warrant its erection into a State, and it was soon 
thus admitted as a free State. 

Iowa was admitted to the Union as a free State in December, 1846, 
and Wisconsin in May, 1848. Oregon was organized as a Territory. 
The Mormon metropolis of Salt Lake City was founded, and rapidly 
grew in size and wealth. Mr. Polk's administration also witnessed the 
beginning of the great Irish immigration to this country, following the 
disastrous famine in that country. 

CLOSE OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 

The administration of Mr. Polk was signalized by many interesting 
and important events. Yet it cannot be said to have been popular, even 
with the party to which he owed his elevation. Towards the close of his 
term few, if any, seriously advocated his re-election. At a Democratic 
convention held in Baltimore May 21, 1848, Lewis Cass, of Michigan, 
was nominated for the presidency and General W. O. Butler, of Ken- 
tucky, for the vice-presidency. 

In June following (7th) a Whig national convention was held in 
Philadelphia for a similar purpose. The principal candidates were Henry 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 285 

Clay, of Kentucky, General Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, and General 

Winfield Scott, of New Jersey. The result of several ballotings was the 
nomination of General Taylor, who, of the 280 votes cast, received 170. 
Mr. Clay had 32 and General Scott 63. Millard Fillmore, of New York, 
was nominated for the vice-presidency. 

THE FREE SOIL PARTY. 

In the Baltimore Democratic convention the State of New York 
was not represented. Two separate sets of delegates, from two separate 
conventions held in that State, were present, and each claimed seats ; 
and, while a portion of the convention were inclined to admit one set 
and exclude the other, and some were in favor of the admission of both, 
it was at length decided to exclude both. In consequence of this exclu- 
sion, the Free-Soil party adopted measures to convene another conven- 
tion, which met at Utica, and nominated Martin Van Buren. The object 
of this party was twofold — to defeat Mr. Cass, and next to lay the 
foundation for organizing a Free Soil party, designed ultimately to gain 
a political ascendancy in the United States. 

During the summer following the friends of the respective candi 
dates were not idle. While their efforts were not characterized by the 
enthusiasm and intemperance of some former electioneering campaigns, 
no probable means of success were omitted. Conventions were held, 
speeches were made, pamphlets circulated, political agents itinerated the 
country, and the press, as usual, gave currency to every good and evil 
report, as suited its political taste and interests. 

At length, in November, the election was held, and resulted in the 
choice of a majority of electors friendly to the election of General Tay- 
lor. On the 14th of February 1849, the votes of the several colleges 
were opened and counted, agreeably to the Constitution, in the presence 
of both houses of Congress, when it appeared that the whole number 
of votes given was 290, of which General Taylor received 163, and, 
accordingly, was declared to be elected. Millard Fillmore, having a like 
number of votes for the vice-presidency, was so proclaimed. Lewis Cass 
and General W. O. Butler had each 127 votes for the respective offices 
for which they were nominated. Mr. Van Buren failed to receive the 
vote of a single State. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



First Sikh War— Great Battle of Ferozeshah— The Second Sikh War- 
The Irish Famine— Abolition of the Corn Laws— Break-up of the Tory 
Party — Emigration from Ireland — Smith O'Brien's Insurrection — End 
of Chartism — The Spanish Marriag'es — Discontent in France- 
Beginning the Revolution — The King's Surrender — The Republic 
Proclaimed — Rise of the Mob — Organizing the Republic — Louis 
Napoleon, President of France — Affairs in Germany — The 
Revolutionary Era — Concessions in Prussia — The Oppres- 
sion of Italy — Awakening of the Italians — Throwing off 
the Austrian Yoke — The Suppression of Lombardy — 
The Pope Flees from Rome — Revolution in Austria 
Hungary — War Threatened in Vienna — War with 
Hungary — "King Bomba"— Reaction in Prussia. 



IN 1845 the British became involved in a war with the sole remaining 
State of India which had preserved its full independence. For nearly 
fifty years the Punjaub had formed a powerful kingdom under the 
Sikh despot Runjit Singh, a man of genius, who had formed his co- 
religionists into an invincible army, with which he conquered his Moham- 
medan neighbors and held down all India north of the Sutlej. Knowing 
the might of Britain, he had always kept on the most friendly terms with 
the East India Company, but when he died, in 1839, trouble ensued. 
The proud and fanatical army which he had created would obey no 
meaner masters, and Runjit Singh's successors perished, the victims ot 
military mutinies or palace conspiracies. Quite contrary to the will 
of their nominal rulers, the Sikh troops resolved to attack the British, 
hoping to take Delhi and conquer the whole peninsula. They were, for 
a moment, not far from succeeding, and if their leaders had been 
capable and loyal to each other the consequences of their adventure 
might have been tremendous. 

In December, 1845, tne Y crossed the Sutlej into British territory 
with 60,000 men, and found themselves confronted by a much smaller 
army hastily gathered together by Lord Hardinge, the Governor-General. 

260 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 287 

He entrusted his troops to Sir Hugh Gough, a hot-headed old soldier, 
whose only tactics consisted in hurling his infantry straight at the enemy 
and endeavoring to sweep them away with one desperate charge. This 
sort of attack answered well enough against ordinary Indian troops, but 
the Sikhs were made of sterner stuff. The fighting with them was very 
desperate ; no less than five pitched battles were fought between 
December 18, 1845, an d February 10, 1846. 

GREAT BATTLE AT FEROZESHAH. 

The crucial struggle was at Ferozeshah, where Gough's headlong 
courage failed on the first day to force the Sikh lines ; his Sepoy 
battalions flinched, and his European regiments suffered the most fright- 
ful losses. Next day he resumed the struggle ; but the enemy, whose 
losses had also been tremendous, had not the heart to face two pitched 
battles on successive days, and sullenly retired. The campaign termi- 
nated at Sobraon (February 10th), when Gough had to storm a circular 
entrenched position with the Sutlej at its back. Leading his troops for- 
ward, with his customary impetuosity, he saw them driven back from 
assault after assault. But finally the Sikhs ungarnished one front of their 
works, while reinforcing the rest ; a British column penetrated into the 
gap, and the gallant enemy were finally driven into the Sutlej, where 
thousands perished when their bridge of boats broke down. Ten days 
later the British army appeared in front of Lahore, and the Sikh Govern- 
ment asked for terms. The British recognized the young Rajah Dhuleep 
Singh as the successor of Runjit Singh ; but he was ordered to pay a 
heavy fine, to cut his army down to 30,000 men, and to surrender the 
south-eastern corner of his dominions, where they reached nearest to 
Delhi. 

THE SECOND SIKH WAR. 

But the spirit of the Sikhs was not yet broken ; they looked upon 
themselves not as beaten, but as betrayed by incompetent generals, and 
were quite ready to try the fortune of war once more. Only two years 
after Sobraon (March, 1848), Moolraj, the Governor of Mooltan, massa- 
cred some British officers, and appealed to the old army to take the field 
once more and throw off the foreign yoke. The whole Punjaub at once 
blazed up into insurrection, and the work of 1846 had to be repeated. 
Unhappily for the British troops, they were still under the command ol 



288 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

the headstrong Gough, who showed that he had learned nothing from 
experience. After two checks, into which his rashness led him, in the 
autumn of 1848, he brought the main Sikh army into action at Chillian- 
wallah. There he delivered a frontal attack on an enemy screened by a 
jungle and covered by a tremendous fire of artillery. Some of the British 
brigades were almost blown to pieces, but the valor of the survivors 
evicted the Sikhs from their lines, and Chillianwallah counts as a victory 
(January 1 1, 1849). 

But the war was really settled by the decisive action of Goojerat 
(February 6th), where, for once, Gough was persuaded to allow his 
artillery to batter the enemy's lines before the infantry was let loose. 
Shaken by the fire of eighty heavy guns the Sikhs broke when the attack 
was delivered, and the British won the field with small loss — a great con- 
trast to their sufferings at Ferozeshah and Chillianwallah. A month later 
the whole Sikh army laid down its arms, and the Punjaub was annexed 
in March, 1849. The problem of its settlement appeared likely to be so 
difficult that picked men were drafted in from all the presidencies to take 
up the task, their chief being the administrator, Sir John Lawrence. The 
work was so well done that the new province settled down into great 
quiet and content, and when, eight years later, the Sepoy mutiny broke 
out, the British were able to enlist their old enemies of the Sikh army by 
the thousand to put down the rebels of Delhi and Oude. 

THE IRISH FAMINE. 

Sir Robert Peel's later years of office as Prime Minister of England 
(1845-6) were made unhappy by a domestic calamity of appalling vio- 
lence — the unfortunate potato famine in Ireland. In other countries the 
complete destruction of the potato crop by blight in two successive years 
would have caused nothing more than serious inconvenience. But in 
Ireland half the nation depended on the root. The population had been 
multiplying with great rapidity ; in thirty years it had risen from five to 
eight millions, and this not owing to flourishing trade or manufactures, 
or to any great increase in the amount of land cultivated. The landlords 
had been permitting their tenants to cut up their farms into smaller and 
smaller patches, till an average holding did not suffice to support its 
occupier, who had to make up the deficit by seeking harvest work in 
England during the summer. Several millions of people were living on 





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these wretched patches of ground, always on the edge of starvation, and 
sustained only by their potatoes. On such an indigent population two 
years of blight brought absolute famine. Before the disaster was fully 
realized thousands had perished from actual hunger, or from the fevers 
and dysentery following bad and insufficient food. The workhouses were 
crammed till they could hold no more, and out-door relief did not yet 
exist in Ireland. Far too late the Government began to establish public 
soup-kitchens, and pour in food of all kinds. But it was long before 
relief could penetrate to out-of-the-way districts, and the famine was 
prolonged for many months. 

ABOLITION OF THE CORN LAWS. 

Sir Robert Peel, deeply impressed by the horrors of the situation, 
came to the conclusion that the best remedy would be the abolition of 
the protective duties on home-grown corn, which rendered difficult in 
such crises the importation of foreign food. . After much thought, he re- 
solved to introduce a bill providing for the abolition of the Corn Laws in 
1849, and introducing for the three intervening years a low scale of 
duties. This bold step caused immediate division in the Tory camp. 
The great land-owners, who formed such a large and powerful section 
of the party, were convinced that free trade in corn meant the ruin of 
English agriculture, and many of them resolved to follow Peel no 
longer. Several of his colleagues in the Cabinet resigned, and many 
scores of members in the Commons announced that they should vote 
against their great chief's bill. The discontented faction was headed by 
Lord George Bentinck and Benjamin Disraeli, the latter of whom now 
first appeared prominently in politics. He was the son of a Jewish man 
of letters, and had hitherto been regarded as little more than an ingen- 
ious charlatan, though his somewhat bombastic and turgid novels showed 
plenty of cleverness and wit. Now, by organizing the opponents of 
Peel into a solid body, he showed that he could do something in prac- 
tical politics. 

BREAK-UP OF THE TORY PARTY. 

The repeal of the Corn Laws was carried by Peel only with the as- 
sistance of the votes of his opponents, the Whigs, by 337 votes to 240, 
the minority including two-thirds of the Tory party (May 16, 1846). 

Two months later the Protectionists took their revenge on their former 
16 



292 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

chief by uniting with the Whigs to throw out a bill intended to put down 
agrarian crime in Ireland (July, 1846). Peel at once resigned. His en- 
lightened and courageous action with regard to the Corn Laws had not 
only doomed him to sit in opposition for the rest of his life, but had hope- 
lessly broken up the Conservative party. It was now divided into two 
irreconcilable sections, for Peel could not forgive the rebels who had 
turned him out of office, while the Protectionists looked upon him as a 
traitor, who had cast away one of the main planks of the party platform. 
Such hard words had passed between them that they could not easily 
forgive each other. Hence it is not strange that the Conservatives were 
destined never to enjoy a real Parliamentary majority again for nearly 
thirty years. 

Meanwhile the Whigs returned to office under Lord John Russell, 
the introducer of the Reform Bill of 1832, an adroit party politician, full 
of buoyant self-confidence, but not a man of any great mark or original- 
ity. Palmerston, a much more notable figure, resumed his place at the 
Foreign Office, which he was now to hold without any appreciable break 
for twenty years more, till his death in 1865. The new government had 
to take over two troublesome legacies from their predecessors, the Irish 
famine and the still lingering Chartist agitation. 

EMIGRATION FROM IRELAND. 

In dealing with the former they did not show themselves much more 
effective than the Conservatives. There was still a vast mortality from 
fever and dysentery in 1846, which might have been prevented by 
really active measures of relief. In the following year, when the stress 
of the famine was over, the Irish landlords tried to free themselves from 
the danger of such another disaster by suddenly reversing their former 
policy of multiplying small tenants on diminutive holdings. They be- 
gaia at once to consolidate the small farms into large ones by evicting 
their weakest and poorest tenants. This process was carried out in 
many cases with inconsiderate haste and reckless cruelty, families which 
had been brought low by the famine being cast out on the roadside by 
thousands. The greater part of them ultimately struggled across the 
Atlantic to the United States. The policy was the correct one from the 
point of view of economy, but it was worked out with inexcusable disre- 
gard for the sufferings of the evicted. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 293 

SMITH O'BRIEN'S INSURRECTION 

The general indignation felt for the clearances of 1847 was the main 
cause of the Irish rising of 1848. A large body of O'Connell's former 
followers had some years before seceded from him, because they insisted 
that armed rebellion was justifiable, while he had been all for peaceful 
agitation. Now they struck their blow, and proved themselves (July 
1848) utterly unable to do anything serious. Smith O'Brien, an enthusi- 
astic and well-meaning member of Parliament, was their chosen leader, 
and proved a most incompetent general and organizer. He collected 
2000 armed men, but his campaign ended in a ludicrous fiasco, the 
"Army of the Irish Republic" being dispersed by fifty constables after 
a scuffle in a cabbage-garden near Bonlagh, in Tipperary. Smith 
O'Brien and the other chiefs were tried and condemned for high treason, 
but the Government wisely and mercifully gave them no further punish- 
ment than a few years deportation to the Colonies, and granted them 
" tickets-of-leave " long ere their sentence was out. 

END OF CHARTISM. 

The end of the Chartist agitation had fallen a few weeks before the 
Irish rising, and had been equally ignominious. The London Chartists, 
having resolved to march on the Houses of Parliament and present a 
monster petition for the "six points," were forbidden to approach West- 
minster. They declared their intention of forcing their way thither, but 
the Government called out the troops, and 200,000 special constables 
answered the appeal for civil aid. Hearing of this army ready to meet 
them, the Chartists very wisely, but rather tamely, went home, after send- 
ing their vast petition to the Commons in three cabs. The fact that 
April 14, 1848, was a very rainy day seems to have had a good deal to 
do with this absurd fiasco. 

THE SPANISH MARRIAGES. 

Meantime France was steadily verging toward another revolution. 
Discontent with Louis Philippe was growing apace. Louis Napoleon 
escaped from the prison fortress of Ham in May, 1846, and renewed his 
intrigues with some success. The scandalous conduct of Louis Philippe 
in the matter of the " Spanish marriages " alienated the sympathy and 
support of Great Britain and caused much criticism at home. 



294 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

French influence was now preponderant in Spain, and Louis Philippe 
determined to seize the opportunity of gratifying his dynastic ambition. 
The great question of the day was to find a husband for the young 
Queen. The interests of England were directly opposed to any mar- 
riage which might give the Spanish crown to a French prince. Louis 
Philippe did not venture to propose a direct alliance with Isabella, but he 
determined to find a husband for her who would not be likely to have 
children, and to marry her younger sister, Maria Louisa, to his own son, 
the Duke of Montpensier. 

This scandalously immoral scheme had the complete approval of 
Christina. In 1845 Louis Philippe had promised Queen Victoria in a 
personal interview at Eu, that his son's marriage should not take place 
until Isabella had given birth to an heir. But the King's honor was 
weaker than his ambition. On the 10th of October, 1846, the Spanish 
Queen was married to her cousin, Francis of Assis, a husband who sat- 
isfied the required conditions, and on the very same day the Duke of 
Montpensier married Maria Louisa. Public opinion in Europe was pro- 
foundly scandalized by a transaction which must always remain a blot upon 
the character both of Louis Philippe and of M. Guizot. England was 
bitterly aggrieved, and although no open rupture took place, the English 
Government was completely alienated from the Orleanist dynasty, which 
thus lost its firmest support at a time when it was most in need of it. 
And the intrigue had not even the scanty justification of success. Isabella 
gave birth to a daughter in 185 1, whose paternity was more than doubt- 
ful, and before that time Louis Philippe had forfeited the French throne. 

DISCONTENT IN FRANCE. 

During the winter of 1847-48 numerous political reform banquets 
were held throughout France ; and the omission of the King's health 
from the list of toasts on these occasions was a circumstance that added 
much to the jealousy with which these displays were regarded by the 
Government. The leaders of the opposition having announced that re- 
form banquets would be held throughout France on the 2 2d of February, 
1848, Washington's birthday, on the evening preceding the 22d, the Ad- 
ministration forbade the intended meeting in Paris, and made extensive 
military preparations to suppress it if it were attempted, and to crush 
at once any attempt at insurrection. In the Chamber of Deputies, then 





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*TORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 297 

in session, this arbitrary measure of government was warmly discussed, 
when the opposition members, consenting to give up the meeting for 
the morrow, concurred in the plan of moving an impeachment of Min- 
isters, with the expectation of obtaining either a change of Cabinet, or 
a dissolution of the Chamber and a new election, which would test 
the sense of the nation. 

BEGINNING THE REVOLUTION. 

On the morning of the 2 2d the opposition papers announced that 
the banquet would be deferred, when the orders for the troops of the 
line to occupy the place of intended meeting were countermanded, and 
pickets only were stationed in a few places ; but no serious disturb- 
ances were anticipated, either by the Ministry or its opponents. The 
announcement of the opposition journals, however, came too late ; and 
at noon a large concourse, chiefly of the working classes, had assembled 
around the Church of the Madelene, where the procession was to have 
been organized. But the multitude exhibited no symptoms of disorder, 
and were dispersed by the municipal cavalry without any loss of life. In 
the evening, however, disturbances began. Gunsmiths' shops were 
broken open, barricades were formed, lamps extinguished, the guards 
were attacked, the streets were filled with troops, and appearances indi- 
cated a sanguinary strife on the morrow. 

At an early hour on Wednesday, February 23d, crowds again ap- 
peared in the streets, barricades were erected, and some skirmishing en- 
sued, in which a few persons were killed. Numbers of the National 
Guard also made their appearance, and a portion of them having de- 
clared for reform, sent their colonel to the King to acquaint His Majesty 
with their wishes. He immediately acceded to their requests, dismissed 
the Guizot Cabinet, and requested Count Mole to form a new ministry. 
This measure produced a momentary calm, but the rioters continued to 
traverse the streets, often attacking, and sometimes disarming, the mu- 
nicipal guards. Between 10 and 1 1 o'clock in the evening, a crowd pass- 
ing the office of Foreign Affairs, was suddenly fired upon by the troops, 
with fatal effect. The people fled in consternation, but their thirst for 
revenge was aroused, and the cry, " To arms ! Down with the assas- 
sins ! Down with Louis Philippe ! Down with the Bourbons ! " re 
sounded throughout Paris. 



298 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

THE KING'S SURRENDER. 

The attempt to establish a Mole administration having failed, the 
King, late at night, sent for M. Thiers, and entrusted to him the forma- 
tion of a ministry that should be acceptable to the people ; and on the 
following morning, the 24th, a proclamation to the citizens of Paris an- 
nounced that M. Thiers and Odillon Barrot had been appointed ministers ; 
that orders had been given the troops to cease firing and retire to their 
quarters ; that the Chamber would be dissolved and an appeal made to 
the people, and that General Lamoriciere had been appointed com- 
mandant of the National Guards. The order to the troops to retire, 
causing the resignation of their commander, Marshal Bugeaud, after 
a protest against the measure, was a virtual surrender on the part of the 
Government of the means of defence ; and the King and royal family 
soon found themselves at the mercy of an excited populace. The troops 
quietly allowed themselves to be disarmed by the mob, who then, to 
the number of 20,000, and accompanied by the National Guard, di- 
rected their course to the Palace Royal and the Tuileries, and demanded 
the abdication of the King. In the course of the day the King signed 
an abdication in favor of his grandson, the young Count of Paris ; bwt 
before this fact was generally known the armed populace broke into 
the palace, made a bonfire of the royal carriages and furniture, and 
after having carried the throne of the state reception room in triumph 
through the streets, burned that also. Meanwhile the ex King and 
Queen escaped to St. Cloud, whence they pursued their way to Ver- 
sailles, and thence to Dreux, from which latter place they escaped in 
disguise to England, whither they were followed by M. Guizot and other 
members of the late ministry. 

THE REPUBLIC PROCLAIMED. 

On the day of the King's abdication the Chamber of Deputies as- 
sembled, but being overwhelmed by the crowd, the greatest confusion 
prevailed, and amid shouts of " No King ! Long live the Republic ! " 
the members of the provisional government were named and adopted by 
popular acclamation. Although a majority of the deputies seemed 
opposed to the establishment of a republic, and it was by no means 
certain that there was any great party out of Paris in its favor, every 
attempt to adjourn the question was the signal for renewed shouts and 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 299 

disorder ; and amid the turbulent demonstrations of the Parisian popu- 
lace the French Republic was adopted and proclaimed to the nation. 
Royalty had vanished almost without a struggle — blown away by the 
breath of an urban tumult — and the strangest revolution of modern 
times was consummated. 

, The leading member of the provisional government was M. Lamar- 

tine, to whom belongs the renown of saving the country from almost 
immediate anarchy. By his noble and fervid eloquence the passions 
of the mob were calmed, and by his prompt and judicious measures, 
among the first of which was the declaration of the abolition of capital pun- 
ishment for political offenses, tranquillity and confidence were at once re- 
stored. On the 26th the Bank of France re-opened, the public departments 
resumed their duties ; and with unparalleled unanimity the army, the 
clergy, the press and the people, in the provinces as well as in Paris, 
immediately gave in their adhesion to the new Republic. 

RISE OF THE MOB. 

On the 15th of May the National Assembly was surrounded by the 
populace, led by Barbes, Planqui, Hubert and other Communist leaders, 
who, after having driven the deputies from their seats, and assumed the 
functions of government, proclaimed themselves the National Executive 
Committee, and through Barbes, one of their number, declared that a 
contribution of 1,000,000,000 francs should be levied on the rich for the 
benefit of the poor; that a tax of another 1,000,000,000 francs should 
be raise-j 101 the benefit of Poland ; that the National Assembly should 
be dissolved, and finally, that the guillotine should be put in operation 
against the enemies of the country. But in the meantime the National 
Guard was called out, the rioters were soon dispersed, their leaders 
arrested, and the provisional government reinstated. 

Owing to the fear of another demonstration against the Govern- 
ment, the full command of all the troops was given to General Cavaig- 
nac, the Minister of War ; and all the approaches to the National As- 
sembly and all ministers' apartments were strongly guarded. In June, 
the Government finding the burdens imposed on the public treasury too 
heavy to be borne, determined to send out of Paris to the provinces 
about 12,000 of the workmen then unprofitably employed in the national 
workshops. This was the signal of alarm. Disturbances began on the 



300 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

evening of the 2 2d ; on the 23d the most active preparations were made 
by both parties for the coming contest, and some blood was shed at the 
barricades erected by the insurgents. At 1 o'clock on Saturday morn- 
ing, the 24th, General Cavaignac declared Paris in a state of siege, and 
the struggle began in earnest. From that hour until 4 o'clock in the 
afternoon, when the insurgents were driven from the left bank of the 
Seine, the musketry and cannonade were incessant, and Paris was a vast 
battlefield. The fight was renewed at an early hour on Sunday morn 
ing, and continued during most of the day, and it was not till noon on 
Monday that the struggle was terminated by the unconditional surrender 
of the last body of the insurgents. The number killed and wounded in 
this insurrection — by far the most terrible that had ever desolated Paris 
—was never known ; but 5000 is not a high estimate. 

ORGANIZING THE REPUBLIC. 

The exertions and success of General Cavaignac in defending the 
Government procured for him a vote of thanks from the Assembly, and 
the unanimous appointment of temporary Chief Executive of the Nation, 
with the power of appointing his Ministers. Many of the leaders of the 
insurrection, among them Louis Blanc and Caussidiere, fled from the 
country ; a small number of those taken with arms in their hands were 
condemned to transportation ; but the great majority, after a short con- 
finement, were set at liberty. The Assembly in the meantime proceeded 
with its task of constructing the new constitution, which was adopted on 
the 4th of November, 1848, by a vote of 739 in its favor and 30 in oppo- 
sition. It declared that the French Nation had adopted the Republican 
form of government, with one Legislative Assembly, and that the execu- 
tive power should be vested in a President, to be elected by universal 
suffrage, for a term of four years. Its principles were declared to be 
liberty, equality and fraternity ; and the basis on which it rested — 
family, labor, property and public order. 

LOUIS NAPOLEON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE. 

The Republican candidate for President was Cavaignac, who had 
given conclusive proofs of his honesty and of his ability to rule. But he 
had alienated the socialists by his conduct in the June rising ; he was 
regarded with jealousy by many of his fellow-officers ; and his very devo 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 301 

tion to the republic told against him among those who cared less for 
Democratic equality than for the protection of their property. His most 
formidable rival was Louis Napoleon, who had been elected to the 
Assembly in September by five departments. This time no opposition 
was made to his return to France, and he took his seat as Deputy for the 
Department of the Seine. Little was known of him but the futile con- 
spiracies of Strasburg and Boulogne, but his name was a charm to 
conjure with. Thanks to Thiers and other writers the memory of the 
first Napoleon had come to be almost worshipped in France. The peas- 
ants and soldiers believed that the rule of another Napoleon would secure 
their prosperity and their glory. The Orleanists also supported him, in 
the belief that they could use him as their instrument to effect the res- 
toration of the July monarchy, but events proved that their confidence 
in his incapacity were ill-founded. Among the other candidates were 
Ledru-Rollin, Raspail, the champion of the advanced Socialists, and La- 
martine, whose popularity had declined as rapidly as it had arisen. From 
the first commencement of the voting the result was a foregone conclu- 
sion. The recorded votes numbered nearly seven millions and a half. 
Of these Louis Napoleon received 5,434,226, and Cavaignac only 
1,443,107. Ledru-Rollin came next with 370, 119, and the other candi- 
dates received hardly any support. On December 20th the President 
took the prescribed oath to observe the constitution, and entered upon 
the official residence in the palace of the Elysee. 

AFFAIRS IN GERMANY. 

The history of Germany is almost a complete blank between the 
revolutionary movements of 1830 and 1848. The Bund, the only repre- 
sentative of German unity, was a hopeless inert mass which did nothing 
but oppose a passive resistance to reform. The sub-division into innumer- 
able petty States was maintained by the overwhelming influence of Russia, 
which was always exerted to prevent an aggrandizement of Prussia or 
Austria. These two States, which absorbed most of the material strength 
of Germany, regarded each other with a jealousy that made the Czar 
the necessary arbitrator between them. In Austria, Francis I had been 
succeeded in 1835 by his son, Ferdinand I, but the change of rulers 
only gave greater power to Metternich, who continued with cynical 
obstinacy to maintain the antiquated system of government, which was 



302 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

ready to fall at the first touch. In 1837 the death of William IV sepa- 
rated England from Hanover and the latter crown, from which females 
were excluded, fell to Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. The first 
act of the new King- was to abolish the Constitution of 1833, and to dis- 
miss seven Gottingen professors who protested against the arbitrary 
measure. In 1840 Frederick William IV succeeded his father in Prussia, 
but he did little to alter the system that had pervaded in Berlin sinc^/ 
1 8 15. The last relic of Polish independence was done away with in 1846. 
when the Republic of Krakau, on the pretext of insurrection, was 
incorporated with Austria. 

THE REVOLUTIONARY ERA. 

In March, 1848, the revolutionary wave broke over Germany with 
such force that resistance was hardly dreamed of. Rulers hastened to 
secure their thrones by granting all the demands of their subjects, and 
by admitting to office the men who had hitherto been the prominent 
leaders of opposition. The Constitution of Baden, March 3d, was the 
model which was copied in the other States. Its chiet points were the 
freedom of the press, trial by jury, political equality of all creeds, respon 
sibility of Ministers, abolition of feudal obligations, and equal taxation. 
Everywhere the people agitated for these or similar reforms, and every- 
where they were granted. No day passed without the appearance of a 
new constitution. In Darmstadt, Nassau, Hesse-Cassel, Oldenburg, 
Brunswick, the four Hanse Towns, Weimar, and Wurtemburg, the out- 
lines of the story are so similar that the details become insignificant. 
Only the three great middle States, Saxony, Bavaria and Hanover, de- 
layed their action to see what was done by their two powerful neighbors. 

The news of the events in Paris was enough in itself to overturn the 
ill-cemented edifice of the Austrian State. The Hungarians, inspired by 
the eloquence of Kossuth, clamored for an independent diet and dimin- 
ished taxes. Similar demands were made in Prague. The populace of 
Vienna, usually so contented and pleasure loving, demanded the dismissal 
of Metternich. Without an effort at resistance the famous diplomatist 
fled to England, and the Austrian Government was left to the direction 
of the mob. The feeble Ferdinand *I granted freedom to the press, 
allowed the formation of a citizen guard, and promised a libeial 
constitution. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 303 

CONCESSIONS IN PRUSSIA. 

In Prussia Frederick William IV offered a stubborn resistance to the 
demands for constitutional liberties which arrived from all parts of his 
kingdom, and especially from the Rhenish provinces. But the report of 
the occurrences in Vienna led to formidable disturbances in Berlin and 
made concessions unavoidable. On March 1 7th the King promised free- 
dom to the press, the summons of a Landtag on April 2d, the " transfor- 
mation of the German Confederation (Statenbund) into a Federal State 
(Bundestat)," and the incorporation of East and West Prussia and Posen 
in the Bund. Liberal as these assurances were they failed to satisfy the 
people, who now clamored for the dismissal of the soldiers from the 
town and the formation of a new guard. On March 18th the mob came 
into collision with the troops, barricades were raised, and for fourteen 
hours a terrible battle was waged in the streets of Berlin. At last the 
King gave way, ordered the troops to withdraw, dismissed his Ministry, 
and granted an unconditional amnesty to all political prisoners. His 
brother William, Prince of Prussia, who was regarded as a leader of the 
reactionary party, departed to England. From this moment Frederick 
William determined to put himself at the head of the Liberal movement, 
and thus to satisfy the party which desired to see Prussia at the head of 
a united Germany. He assumed the German colors and issued a procla- 
mation, in which he undertook, as a constitutional King, to be the "leader 
of a free and new-born German Nation " (March 21st). Two days later 
he had to attend with bare head the funeral of the 183 victims of the 18th 
of March. But the memory of that day stood between him and the 
realization of his new aims, and Prussia had, for the moment, lost all 
popularity and respect in Germany. Besides domestic revolutions, Ger- 
many had a difficult question to deal with in the relations of the Duchies 
of Schleswig and Holstein with Denmark. Both contained a large Ger- 
man population, and Holstein was a member of the Bund. Both were 
hostile to Danish rule, and were indignant at the attempts to destroy 
their independent nationality and to incorporate them with Denmark. 

THE OPPRESSION OF ITALY. 

No part of Europe was so quiet and at the same time so profoundly 
discontented as Italy in the first years of the fifth decade of the century. 
Austrian rule pressed like a leaden weight upon the provinces of Lom 



304 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

bardy and Venetia. A powerful army, under Marshal Radetsky, stood 
ready to crush the slightest symptom of revolt. The press was subject 
to the most rigorous censorship, and so searching was the system of 
espionage that no one ventured to breathe a word of complaint. The 
upper classes were purposely encouraged to lead a licentious life, that 
they might lose all thought of a political liberty. In the other provinces 
Austrian influence was supreme, and was employed to support the 
arbitrary government of the Princes. In Naples and Sicily Ferdinand II 
( 1 830-1 859) crushed his subjects under a despotism of terror. In the 
Papal States Gregory XVI (1 831-1846) maintained the worst of all forms 
of government, the absolutism of the clergy. Leopold II, of Tuscany, 
was personally benevolent and well-intentioned, but did not venture to 
depart from the system of rule prescribed from Vienna. The lesser 
rulers of Modena, Parma and Lucca, were the powerless vassals of 
Austria. In Piedmont Charles Albert had never ventured to return to 
the liberal principles of his youth. 

This lethargy was suddenly interrupted from a wholly unexpected 
quarter. In June, 1846, Gregory XVI died, and the choice of the con- 
clave fell upon one of the youngest Cardinals, Mastai Ferretti, who took 
the name of Pius IX. The new Pope was chosen mainly on account of 
his feeble health, but he was destined to the longest and one of the most 
eventful pontificates recorded in history. Eager to obtain popularity, 
Pius IX signalized his accession by reforming measures which made a 
profound impression in Europe. He issued an amnesty for all political 
offenders, recalled the exiles, and appointed a council to aid him in the 
Government. Italy resounded with cries of " Evviva Pio Nono," and the 
Pope became, for a brief period, the idol of his countrymen. 

AWAKENING OF THE ITALIANS. 

The example of the Pope naturally exercised great influence in the 
other Italian States. Leopold of Tuscany hastened to conciliate the 
people with administrative reforms. Charles Louis of Lucca was com- 
pelled to make similar concessions, but he showed his personal antipathy 
by selling his duchy to the Grand Duke of Tuscany and retiring from 
public life. Intense popular indignation was aroused by the settlement 
cf the succession in Parma on the death of Maria Louisa (December, 
S847). The Congress of Vienna had arranged that if she died childless 




W 

o 

H 
W 

PL, 
I 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED VEARS. 307 

Parma should be given to the Duke of Lucca, whose duchy was to be 
transferred to Tuscany, while the latter was to cede certain districts to 
the Duke of Modena. This elaborate arrangement based altogether 
upon dynastic interests, without any regard to the wishes of the people 
concerned, was now carried out. Riots ensued, and Francis V of Mo- 
dena invited the Austrians to occupy his duchy. In Southern Italy the 
movement was more violent in proportion to the evils it had to combat. 
Sicily threw off the Neapolitan yoke, and a provisional government was 
established at Palermo, under Riggiero Settimo (January 24, 1848). A 
rising in Naples forced Ferdinand II to dismiss his ministers and to grant 
a liberal constitution (February 10th). The scruples of Charles Albert 
were removed when he found himself on the same side as the Pope, 
and early in 1848 he drew up a constitution for Piedmont, the Statuto 
Fondamentale, which was issued on March 4th. In Tuscany representa- 
tive institutions were granted on February 17th, and the revolution in 
Paris induced Pius IX to take the final step, to which his previous meas- 
ures had obviously tended. A ministry was formed under Cardinal An- 
tonelli, in which for the first time the lay element predominated, and a 
constitution was promulgated on March 14th. This established two 
chambers — one composed of nominees of the Pope, and the other of 
popular representatives ; but the final decisions on all matters was still 
reserved to the College of Cardinals. 

THROWING OFF THE AUSTRIAN YOKE. 

When the news arrived of the Viennese rising of March 13, 1848, 
and the flight of Metternich, the flame of revolt at once broke out in the 
northern provinces. The lead was taken by Milan, where the citizens 
erected barricades, and for four days carried on a desperate contest 
against the Austrian troops. Radetsky might have destroyed the city by 
a bombardment, but he was afraid lest a sudden advance of the Sardi- 
nian army might cut off his communications with Austria. On the even- 
ing of the 2 2d he quitted Milan and retreated towards the famous Quad- 
rilateral formed by the fortresses of Peschiera, Mantua, Legnago and 
Verona. His retreat was the signal for a general rising. The Duke of 
Parma fled without striking a blow. One after another — Monza, Como, 
Bergamo, Brescia and Cremona— threw off the rule of Austria. Venice 
was tamely resigned by Counts Palffy and Zichy, and the citizens restored 



308 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

the Republic under the presidency of Daniele Manin. Francis V of Mo- 
dena was driven from his duchy. Meanwhile Charles Albert had taken 
a decisive step. He declared war against Austria, crossed the Ticino 
with his army (March 25th), and proceeded to pursue the retreating 
Austrians. Radetsky now took up his quarters at Verona and stood 
upon the defensive. Popular enthusiasm compelled the remaining gov- 
ernments of the peninsula to espouse the national cause. The Grand 
Duke of Tuscany ordered his troops to march to the frontier. Pius IX, 
torn by his conflicting interests as an Italian Prince, and as head of the 
Roman Catholic Church, found it impossible to resist the general im- 
pulse, and the Roman army was dispatched to the Po. Even Ferdinand II 
did not yet venture to obey his natural inclinations. The Neapolitan army 
set out under Pepe, the fleet was sent to Ancona, and Charles Albert 
was assured that Naples would co-operate actively in the war for Italian 
independence. But it was afterwards discovered that both the army and 
the fleet had received secret instructions to do nothing until the course 
of events had enabled the King to decide finally on his course of action. 
Ferdinand's insincerity was soon made manifest. In defiance of his 
solemn oath to observe the constitution, he dissolved the Chamber of 
Deputies before it had time to meet, formed a reactionary ministry, re- 
called his army, and declared a complete change of the franchise. In 
consequence of these measures the Sicilians declared that the Bourbons 
had forfeited the crown, and prepared to offer the crown to the Duke of 
Genoa, the second son of Charles Albert. 

THE SUPPRESSION OF LOMBARDY. 

The Sardinian King had continued for some time to retain his ad- 
vantage in the Lombard war. Radetsky refused to be drawn from his 
position at Verona until the arrival of reinforcements should enable him 
to take the aggressive. The result was that the Sardinian troops were 
able to overrun the country as far as the Adige, and a momentary re- 
pulse at Santa Lucia (May 6th) was more than compensated by a dis- 
tinguished success at Goito (May 30th) and by the capture of Perchiera. 
Popular votes decreed the annexation of Lombardy, Modena and Parma 
to Sardinia. That these bright prospects were soon overcrowded was 
probably due to the error of Charles Albert himself. If he had at once 
advanced against Radetsky at the end of March he might have finished 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 309 

the war at one blow. But he was afraid of the Nationalists, who might 
utilize his victories to his own disadvantage. He was not cordially sup- 
ported by the other rulers of the peninsula, and he trusted that English 
mediation and the rising in Hungary would compel Austria to cede Lom- 
bardy to him without further warfare. His hesitation secured the suc- 
cess of Radetsky, whose retreat, instead of being a sign of weakness, 
was a masterly stroke of policy. Strengthened by reinforcements under 
Welden, he suddenly left Verona, captured Vicenza, Treviso and Padua, 
and thus secured a second and safer line of communication with Austria. 
Turning against the Piedmontese, he inflicted a crushing defeat upon 
them at Custozza (July 25th). Charles Albert retreated to Milan, 
closely pursued and harassed by the victorious army. Milan capitulated 
without striking a blow, and the last chance of retaining any hold upon 
Lombardy was gone. On August 8th Charles Albert signed an armis- 
tice by which he surrendered Peschiera and the positions outside Lom- 
bardy, and engaged to withdraw the ships and troops that had been sent 
to the assistance of Venice. Lombardy was once more an Austrian 
province, and Radetsky prepared to complete his work by laying siege 
on Venice. 

THE POPE FLEES FROM ROME. 

Pius IX had already deserted the Italian cause when he discovered 
that it involved him in open war with Austria. From that time he began 
to think more of his duties as the head of the church and less of temporal 
interests. The result was that he soon lost the popularity that his 
Liberal measures had given him. His reforming Ministry naturally 
resigned when the Pope would no longer assent to their measures. 
Count Rossi, who became head of a new Ministry, alienated both the 
Liberal and the Reactionary parties, and was assassinated on November 
15th. The Pope was so horrified by this act that he quitted Rome in 
disguise (November 24th) and took up his residence at Gaeta, under the 
protection of the King of Naples. The greatest excitement prevailed 
when the news of his departure was made known. The Roman Parlia- 
ment, which had met on the day of Rossi's death, appointed an executive 
committee of three persons, and ordered the election of a Constituent 
Assembly. The Pope contented himself with issuing one brief after 
another to declare the nullity of all that was done during his absence, but 
did nothing to strengthen the hands of the Moderate party, who were 



3IO STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 

still inclined to trust him. The Constituent Assembly, in which both 
Garibaldi and Mazzini had seats, decided that the Pope had forfeited the 
temporal government of the State, that he should be guaranteed the 
independent exercise of his spiritual power, and that a pure democracy- 
should be created under the name of the Roman Republic. In Tuscany 
Leopold II followed the Pope's example when he found that matters were 
going too far, and escaped first to San Stefano and then to Gaeta. Not 
returning, a republic was proclaimed in Florence under the presidency 
of Guerrazzi. 

REVOLUTION IN AUSTRIA HUNGARY. 

During: the months which witnessed the overthrow and restoration 
of the Austrian power in Italy, the home Government was undergoing a 
great crisis. Kolowrat, who took Metternich's place, was unequal to the 
task of maintaining order, and the Government was carried on under 
the dictation of the students and the mob. The disturbances in the 
capital were stirred up by Kossuth, who aimed at freeing Hungary 
altogether from Hapsburg rule. The Emperor had already granted the 
Hungarians an independent Ministry, in which Kossuth undertook to 
control the finance. But the Revolutionary party demanded a constitu- 
tion on the model of that of Baden, and the Diet was terrified by an 
insurrection into passing a decree for its establishment. In Bohemia the 
Slavonic party also agitated for the formation of an independent govern- 
ment and the exclusion of German elements. But the Slavs had no 
sympathy with the Magyars, and were willing to support the Hapsburgs 
if they would grant their demands. They were especially anxious to 
prevent the federal union of the German provinces of Austria with the 
rest of Germany. Kossuth determined to effect his own aims and to 
frustrate those of Bohemia by terrifying the imperial government. A 
new constitution had been issued, which established the ordinary two 
chambers. On May 15th the populace of Vienna rose in revolt and 
demanded the abolition of the aristocratic chamber and the summons of 
a National Assembly to reform the constiiution. Resistance was im- 
possible, and Ferdinand, by the advice of the Reactionary party, escaped 
with his family from Vienna to Innspruck. This was a very well-judged 
measure, because it freed the Emperor from the influence of both the 
Hungarians and the Bohemians, while he could rely upon the support of 
the Tyrolese, always the most loyal subjects of the house of Hapsburg 




t-, 





1859— BATTLE OF MAGENTA BETWEEN THE AUSTR1ANS AND ITALIANS 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 313 

WAR THREATENED IN VIENNA. 

In Vienna the wildest excitement prevailed for a time. The mobs 
raised barricades in the streets, and civil war was only avoided by order 
ing the troops to leave the city. In Bohemia the Emperor's departure 
to Innspruck was regarded as a serious blow, because it had been hoped 
that he would take up his residence in Prague and entrust the defence of 
the crown to his Slav subjects. His weakness and humiliation, however, 
still offered a favorable prospect of realizing their designs. On June 2d 
a great Slavonic Congress was opened under the presidency of Palacky, 
the historian. Three days later it was formally decreed that the Slavs 
would remain loyal subjects of the Hapsburgs on condition that the 
Austrian monarchy was organized as a federation. At the same time a 
provisional government was formed in Prague, and the Emperor was 
called upon to order Windischgratz, the commander of the garrison, to 
withdraw his troops. But before this could be answered hostilities broke 
out. After an indecisive conflict in the street, in which the wife of 
Windischgratz was killed, the garrison retired outside the walls, but only 
to bombard the city from the surrounding hills. This decided the 
struggle. The opposition leaders made their escape, and Prague surren- 
dered unconditionally (June 18th). This was only a small success in 
itself, but, coupled with Radetsky's victory in Italy, it had a great moral 
effect in restoring the courage and prestige of the Austrian Government. 
At the same time the movement in Hungary was seriously hampered by 
the action of the Slavonic portion of the population. The Slavs were 
always bitterly hostile to the Magyars, and the project of establishing an 
independent State of Hungary threatened them with political annihilation. 
Their only hope lay in the maintenance of German rule, and they rose in 
wild revolt against the dominant party of Kossuth. The Magyars had 
also to carry on war with the Croates under their Ban, Jellachich, who 
was secretly instigated by the imperial court. 

WAR WITH HUNGARY. 

Meanwhile the constituent assembly, which Ferdinand had author- 
ized before his departure, met on July 22, 1848. Race differences among 
its members made it difficult for them to come to any agreement, and 
they were soon absorbed in the thorny question of the relation of lords 

and serfs. But the presence of the Assembly seemed to exercise a tran- 
17 



3H STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

quilizing effect upon Vienna, and the more favorable aspect ot affairs 
emboldened the Emperor to return to his capital (August 12th). In the 
hope of ending the Hungarian war he nominated Count Lamberg com- 
mander of the troops in that kingdom, but the unfortunate general was 
murdered on the bridge of boats in Pesth. All hopes of a reconciliation 
were now at an end, and open war was declared against the Hungarians 
But this act also terminated the tranquillity at Vienna, which was in a 
great measure due to the influence of Kossuth. On October 6th a third 
revolt commenced and proved far more formidable than either of its pre- 
decessors. Its immediate object was to prevent the march of the troops, 
who had been ordered to proceed to Hungary. The mob murdered 
Latour, the war minister, stormed the arsenals and compelled the Con- 
stituent Assembly to demand from the Emperor the cessation of hostili- 
ties against the Hungarians. Ferdinand again fled, this time to Olmutz, 
in Moravia. The garrison under Auersperg occupied a defensive posi- 
tion in the Belvedere gardens, and the city was left in the hands of the 
insurgents. But their triumph was very short-lived. Jellachich, with his 
Croates, marched from the Raab against Vienna, and Windischgratz, the 
victor of Prague, was appointed commander-in-chief of all Austrian 
troops outside of Italy. But the besieged of the approaching aid 
from Hungary, refused to yield, and for several days carried on a 
desperate struggle against superior forces. On the 30th the Hunga- 
rian troops were seen in the distance, but they were repulsed after a 
short engagement on the Schwecht. This sealed the fate of Vienna, 
which surrendered on the next day. The rebels received the prompt 
punishment of military justice. The Austrian monarchy was saved. On 
November 24th a new ministry was formed under Felix Schwartzen- 
berg, the resolute head of the reactionary party. On December 2d 
the Emperor Ferdinand abdicated in favor of his nephew, Francis 
jjoseph, on the ground that "younger powers were needed to carry 
out the reforms that had been commenced." The Constituent As- 
sembly, which had been transferred from Vienna to Kremsier, was dis- 
solved 'March 7, 1849), an d a new constitution was granted "by the 
grace of the Emperor." 

'•KING BOMBA" 

Meanwhile the reaction at Naples and Sicily had been completed with- 
out foreign assistance. Ferdinand II, after recalling his troops from the 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 315 

war in Lombardy, had employed them in reducing the Sicilians to obedi- 
ence. Naples was bombarded, Messina was taken by storm (September 
7, 1848), and the cruelties practiced by the victors were so atrocious that 
Ferdinand received the nickname of "King Bomba." The Neapolitan 
Parliament was continually prorogued, and was finally dissolved without 
ever having been allowed to meet. The Austrian victory of Novara en- 
couraged the King to renew his attack upon Sicily. In April, 1849, 
Palermo was captured, and by the end of May the authority of the Nea- 
politan King was completely restored. 

REACTION IN PRUSSIA. 

The suppression of disorder at Vienna after the capture of the city 
by Windischgratz led to a similar reaction in Prussia. A Constituent 
Assembly had been sitting in Berlin ever since May 22, 1848, in which 
the democratic party sought to carry through its aims with the support 
of the mob. In June the arsenal was sacked, and the Assembly, instead 
of condemning the disturbances, took advantage of them to abolish the 
constitution granted by the King and to issue a more democratic one of 
their own. In August and September the populace was guilty of fresh 
outrages, which the Government was unable to check. But the news 
from Vienna emboldened the King, Frederick William IV, to take deci- 
sive measures. Count Brandenburg, a natural son of Frederick William 
II, was authorized to form a ministry, of which Manteuffel, Minister of 
the Interior, was the guiding spirit (November 4th). Four days later the 
Constituent Assembly was transferred from Berlin to the town of Bran- 
denburg. When the Democrats refused to obey, a considerable body of 
troops under Wrangel entered the capital and enforced compliance. 
Berlin was declared in a state of siege, all the inhabitants were disarmed 
and the political clubs were dissolved. When the Assembly resumed their 
meeting in Brandenburg (November 27th), the Left protested against 
the recent action of the Government, and quitted the hall in a body. On 
December 5th, the King decreed the dissolution of the Assembly, and 
issued a new constitution, which had been drawn up by the ministers. 
This established two chambers, chosen by indirect election. The first 
election was ordered to take place in February, 1B49. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



Sir John Franklin Sails to Seek the North-west Passage — Humboldt's 
"Kosmos" — Necrology — The Planet Neptune — The Sewing- 
Machine — Anaesthetics — Personal. 



THE story of Arctic adventure was in 1845 marked with one of its 
most tragic chapters. In that year Sir John Franklin sailed on his 
famous voyage in quest of the North west Passage from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific, across the northern coast of the North 
American Continent. For the discovery of this passage, which was after- 
ward effected by McClure, the British Parliament had a century before 
offered a large reward. Sir John Franklin was, however, influenced by 
no mercenary motives, but was fired with the true spirit of the explorer. 
He was a distinguished officer of the British Navy, and a veteran of the 
great battles of Copenhagen and Trafalgar. He had commanded the 
British gunboats at the battle of New Orleans, and had been wounded 
in that engagement. He had led Arctic expeditions in 1818, 18 19 and 
1825. He had become Post Captain and Fellow of the Royal Society in 
1823; had been knighted in 1829, and in the latter year had received 
from Oxford University the honorary degree of D. C. L. He had served 
as Governor of Tasmania in 1836-43, and had been greatly beloved. 

Such was the eminent man who now set out for the frozen wilder- 
ness. He took with him an expert company of men in the two ships of 
the British Navy — " Erebus " and " Terror." No Arctic expedition down 
to that time had commanded a tithe of the popular interest that was given 
to this. It went north, and entered the realm of perpetual ice, and was 
never seen again. More than a score of search and relief expeditions 
were sent after it — from England and America — but without result, until 
in 1859 Captain McClintock found evidence that Franklin had died on 
June 11, 1847, near Lancaster Sound, and that all his men had subse- 
quently perished. Lady Franklin survived her husband for many years, 
devoting her after life to philanthropic labors and to efforts to rescue or 
learn tidings of him. 

316 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 317 

HUMBOLDT'S " KOSMOS." 

The appearance of Humboldt's " Kosmos " in 1845 marked an 
epoch in the literature of science. Friedrich Heinrich Alexander, Baron 
von Humboldt, one of the most illustrious scientists of all times, was a 
native of Berlin. He traveled much, and was a profound student of all 
branches of natural science, including botany, geology, chemistry, 
astronomy and zoology, beside excelling as a linguist and serving with 
distinction as a diplomat. At the end of the eighteenth and beginning 
of the nineteenth centuries he spent five years in South and Central 
America, having with him an immense caravan of assistants and an 
arsenal of scientific instruments. On his return home he devoted twenty- 
five years to the arrangement of his stores of specimens, etc., and to 
writing twenty-nine volumes of treatises on his discoveries and explora- 
tions. This colossal work placed him at the head of the scientific world, 
and gave new impulses to natural science in every direction, and even to 
poetry and art. Another journey of exploration was made, under the 
patronage of the Czar through Central Asia. Finally, in 1845, he began 
the publication of his greatest work, " Kosmos," the last volume of which 
was published after his death in May, 1859. 

NECROLOGY. 

The year 1845 saw tne world made poorer by the death of several 
men of eminent rank. Among these were Sydney Smith, clergyman and 
author, one of the founders of the "Edinburgh Review," and one of the 
most brilliant wits and essayists the world has known ; Andrew Jackson, 
who had been President of the United States, and had left a deep and 
ineffaceable imprint upon the history of this nation and of the world ; 
A. W. Schlegel, the German critic and poet, and one of the leaders of 
the Romantic school of literature ; and Thomas Hood, the English poet 
and humorist, the greatest punster the world has known, and the author 
of some of the most immortal poems in the English language — such as 
"The Bridge of Sighs," "The Song of the Shirt," "The Haunted 
House," and "The Dream of Eugene Aram." 

THE PLANET NEPTUNE. 

The discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846 was, from every point 
of view, an incident of the highest interest. It was made specially 



3 J 8 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

memorable by the fact that it was effected simultaneously by two astron- 
omers, Adams in the United States, and Leverrier in France, working 
independently, and each in entire ignorance of the other's labors. 

THE SEWING-MACHINE. 

We must credit the same year, 1846, with the invention of the sew- 
ing-machine, for it was then that Elias Howe obtained his first patent on 
that labor-revolutionizing device. As early as 1790 Thomas Saint, an 
Englishmen, had invented a rude machine for sewing, which contained 
the germ of the modern machine. Other devices were brought out from 
time to time, especially by John Knowles and the Rev. John Adams 
Dodge, of Moncton, Vermont, but none of them were practically suc- 
cessful. Thimonier, in France, manufactured in 1830 the first sewing- 
machine that was ever put upon the market for sale. His machine con- 
tained the essential principles of the modern sewing-machine. But it 
was opposed by the mob of T^ris, as intended to deprive the poor of 
work, and all that were exposed for sale were violently destroyed. 
Walter Hunt, of New York, perfected a machine in 1832-34 and put it 
upon the market for sale, but failed to patent it. J. J. Greenough in- 
vented a machine for sewing shoes in 1842, but it was not a permanent 
success. George H. Corliss, who later invented various improvements 
in the steam engine, added to the number of unsuccessful sewing- 
machines in 1843. 

Finally, in 1846, Elias Howe obtained a patent for his machine, and 
although his earliest machines were not satisfactory, he is rightly 
esteemed as the real inventor of this great labor-saving device. Other 
inventors took up the example which he set, and in a few years many 
different kinds of sewing-machines were on the market. Among the 
foremost of these were the Wheeler & Wilson, invented by Allan B. 
Wilson in 1849; the Singer, invented by Isaac Singer in 1850; the 
Grover & Baker, in 1851, and the Wilcox & Gibbs, in 1857. All but the 
last named, which used a single thread only, were held to be infringe- 
ments upon Howe's patent, and the makers had to pay him a royalty of 
$25 on each machine until the expiration of his patent in 1867. 

ANAESTHETICS. 

One more great discovery must be set down under the date of 1846. 
It was in that year that anaesthetics were first used, The actual date of 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 319 

their invention is in dispute. In ancient times the anaesthetic properties 
of some drugs were imperfectly known. In 1800 Sir Humphrey Davy 
suggested the use of nitrous oxide, and ether had certainly been used 
experimentally at an earlier date. In 1844 Horace Wells, a dentist, of 
Hartford, Conn., used nitrous oxide, or "laughing gas," to prevent pain 
in the extraction of teeth, but the invention fell into disuse, if not disre- 
pute. It was soon taken up again, however, and remains in high favor 
as one of the best means of preventing pain in dental and some sur- 
gical operations. 

In October, 1846, Dr. W. T. G. Morton, of Boston, who had already 
used ether successfully in dental operations, administered it to a patient 
in the Massachusetts General Hospital during a surgical operation by Dr. 
Warren. It was completely successful, and marked the beginning of a 
new era in surgery. For it not only robbed operations of excruciat- 
ing pain, but it thus made possible long and important operations which 
without it were absolutely impossible. Chloroform was introduced as an 
anaesthetic by Sir J. Y. Simpson, of Edinburgh. 

PERSONAL. 

Lord Macaulay published the first part of his " History of England " 
in 1848, and thus established his fame as one of the most accomplished 
writers of history that the world has known. 

O'Connell, the Irish "liberator," and Mendelssohn, the musician, 
died in 1847. They were followed in 1848 by John Quincy Adams, who 
had been President of the United States ; Donizetti, one of the foremost 
composers of Italian opera ; Chateaubriand, the French author and 
statesman ; and George Stevenson, the inventor of railroads 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Zachary Taylor Becomes President of the United States — The Free Soil 
Party — The Slavery Question — Clay's Compromise — A Famous 
Oration — Foote's Resolution — Lopez in Cuba — Clayton- 
Bulwer Treaty — Death of Taylor — Accession of Fill- 
more — The Lopez Expedition — Incidents of the 
Administration — Election of Pierce. 



IN 1849, Mr. Polk was succeeded by Zachary Taylor, most of whose 
life had been spent as an officer in the army, and who, in the Mexican 
war, had acquired a high reputation as a military commander. Gen- 
eral Taylor was the Whig candidate, and he received 163 electoral 
votes for President ; and General Lewis Cass, the Democratic candidate, 
received 127 votes. Millard Fillmore, the Whig candidate, received 163 
votes for Vice-President. 

THE FREE SOIL PARTY. 

On the 3d of December the 31st Congress commenced its first ses- 
sion. On several former instances the organization of the House had 
been delayed, by ineffectual efforts to elect a speaker. In 1820, 17 bal- 
lotings were made before such a choice could be effected. In the present 
instance, the ballotings were extended to 63, occupying the space of 
twenty days. This delay was occasioned by the " Free Soil Party," so 
called, which was composed of but few members, but who were able to 
prevent either of the great political parties in the House from effecting a 
choice. A choice was, however, at length made, and resulted in the 
election of the Democratic candidate. 

Such a severe and protracted contest, on the threshold of the ses- 
sion, was unanticipated, both by Congress and the nation. The delay 
caused was at a cost to the national treasury of more than $50,000. 
" But," as a writer remarks, "other consequences far more serious than 
this resulted. The feelings of members became excited and exasperated ; 
political jealousies and animosities were kindled ; sectional differences 
were magnified to unwonted importance, and sectional interests advo 

320 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



321 



cated and insisted upon ; all giving premonition of the long and stormy 
session which followed, and which was the natural and almost necessary 
result of such selfish and party proceedings." 

The time, however, at length arrived for the reception of the annual 
message. It had been looked for with great interest. It was a brief 
but comprehensive document. The relations of the country were stated 
to be on an amicable footing with all nations, the slight interruption of 
diplomatic intercourse with France having already terminated. Various 
subjects were pressed upon the attention of Congress, among which 
may be mentioned a revision of the existing tariff — the establishment of 
a branch mint in California — improvements in rivers and harbors — strict 
neutrality of the nation in respect to foreign contending powers — and 
the immediate admission of California, on the basis of the Constitution, 
which she had already formed. 

THE SLAVERY QUESTION. 

Early in the session it was apparent that the subject of slavery was 
to become the great topic of controversy and debate. The recent ac- 
quisitions of territory, growing out of the war with Mexico, and the ques- 
tion whether slavery should be permitted or prohibited, in respect to those 
territories, had already become a source of anxiety and agitation. It 
was well known that California was about to make application to be ad- 
mitted into the Union upon the basis of a Constitution, by which slavery 
was forever excluded. To several of the Southern States this intelli- 
gence, if not entirely unexpected, was most unwelcome ; while to the 
people of the North such a prohibition was most gratifying ; and the 
hope was indulged that not only her admission on such a basis would be 
effected, but that other States, which should be subsequently formed 
from acquired territory, would be admitted with similar provisions. 

The members of Congress themselves largely participated in the 
excitement which was pervading the country. This was manifested in 
the contest attendant upon the election of a speaker ; and no sooner 
was that officer elected, and the business of the session commenced, 
than it was quite apparent that a storm was arising, which would require 
the greatest wisdom and the purest patriotism to allay. It was fortunate 
for the country that the Senate at this time embodied men of great 
sagacity and firm resolution ; and upon them it devolved in the first in- 



322 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

stance to devise measures, which it was hoped would serve to conciliate 
the South and the North, and heal divisions which, if suffered to increase, 
were likely to peril the integrity of the Union. 

CLAY'S COMPROMISE. 

In these pacific measures Mr. Clay took the lead, introducing several 
resolutions before the Senate, "by which he proposed," to use his own 
language, "an amicable arrangement of all the questions in controversy 
between free and slave States, growing out of the subject of the institu- 
tion of slavery." The first of these related to the admission of Califor- 
nia, when she should apply, without providing for the introduction or 
exclusion of slavery within her boundaries. The second declared that 
slavery does not exist, and is not likely to be introduced into the territories 
acquired from the republic of Mexico ; 'md that no legislation should be 
had in reference to its introduction or exclusion therefrom. The third 
established the western boundary in the State of Texas. The fourth 
provided for the payment of the public debt of the State of Texas, she 
relinquishing to the United States all her claims for any part of New 
Mexico. The fifth asserted the inexpediency of abolishing slavery in the 
District of Columbia, without the consent of Maryland, without the con- 
sent of the people of the district, and without just compensation to the 
owners of the slaves within the district. The sixth expressed the expe- 
diency of prohibiting the slave trade in the District of Columbia. The 
seventh related to the restitution and delivery of fugitive slaves. The 
eighth denied the power to Congress to prohibit or obstruct the slave 
trade between the slaveholding States. 

A FAMOUS ORATION. 

At a subsequent day, Mr. Clay supported these resolutions in a 
speech, which, for power, pathos, and patriotic sentiment, has seldom, if 
ever, been excelled. He had returned once more from private life to 
the councils of the nation, to lift up his voice as the friend of peace — as 
the friend of his country. He had no political ambition to gratify — he 
was soon to pass away — he would soon be beyond the praise or the 
blame of men ; but one object was dear to his heart ; one more effort he 
desired to make in behalf of that country which he had loved, which he 
had long served, and which to his dying day he should bear upon his 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 323 

heart. The Union was in danger. Clouds of deeper density than he 
had before known were rising — were gathering still greater consistency, 
and were apparently ready to pour forth a terrible storm upon the land. 
Disunion was no longer with some an object of dread. The calamities 
of civil war were thought of, and some no longer trembled at them. But 
against these sources of disunion and these causes of civil war, he would 
loudly, strongly, untiringly lift his warning voice. "Sir," said he, "I 
implore gentlemen, I abjure them, whether from the South or the North, 
by all they hold dear in this world — by all their love of liberty — by all 
their veneration for their ancestors — by all their gratitude to Him who 
has bestowed on them such unnumbered and countless blessings — by all 
the duties which they owe to mankind — and by all the duties which they 
owe to themselves, to pause, solemnly to pause at the edge of the preci- 
pice, before the fatal and dangerous leap is taken into the yawning abyss 
below, from which none who ever take it shall return in safety." 

Having thus presented his resolutions, and fortified them by argu- 
ments and considerations of the highest import, Mr. Clay submitted them 
to such action on the part of the Senate, as they in their wisdom should 
deem best for the country. And from this time for months they occu- 
pied the attention and consideration of the Senate, to the exclusion of 
almost every other subject. During no session of that body, since the 
commencement of the Federal Government, had any other measure 
elicited so much debate, excited such ardent, we might almost say, angry 
controversy. Nor can we stop here. Personal invectives, personal 
crimination and recrimination, sadly marred the dignity of grave Senators, 
and served to bring dishonor upon a body which had long been the pride 
and boast of the nation. 

FOOTE'S RESOLUTION. 

The resolutions introduced by Mr. Clay not proving acceptable to a 
majority of Senators, though no definite action was had respecting them, 
a proposition was made by Mr. Foote to refer the entire subject to a se- 
lect committee consisting of thirteen. After a protracted debate the 
resolution was adopted, and the committee appointed, of which Mr. 
Clay was chairman. Early in May this committee made a report, intro- 
ducing a compromise or omnibus bill of the following tenor : 

1. The admission of any new State or States, formed out of Texas, 
to be postponed until they shall hereafter present themselves to be re- 



324 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 

ceived into the Union, when it will be the duty of Congress fairly and 
faithfully to execute the compact with Texas, by admitting such new 
State or States. 

2. The admission forthwith of California into the Union, with the 
boundaries which she has proposed. 

3. The establishment of territorial governments, without the Wilmot 
Proviso, for New Mexico and Utah, embracing all the territory recently 
acquired by the United States from Mexico not contained in the bounda- 
ries of California. 

4. The combination of these two last mentioned measures in the 
same bill. 

5. The establishment of the western and northern boundary of 
Texas, and the exclusion from her jurisdiction of all New Mexico, with 
the grant to Texas of a pecuniary equivalent. And the section for that 
purpose to be incorporated in the bill admitting California, and establish- 
ing territorial governments for Utah and New Mexico. 

6. More effectual enactments of law to secure the prompt delivery 
of persons bound to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, 
who escape into another State. And, 

7. Abstaining from abolishing slavery ; but under a heavy penalty, 
prohibiting the slave-trade in the District of Columbia. 

These measures were finally adopted, and thus, it was hoped, the 
slavery question was disposed of. But the hope was vain. 

LOPEZ IN CUBA. 

For a long time rumors had been prevalent that an armed expedi- 
tion was contemplated in the United States against the island of Cuba. 
As early as August, 1849, the President, in the belief that such an expe- 
dition was designed, had issued his proclamation, warning the citizens of 
the United States against connecting themselves with an enterprise " so 
grossly in violation of our laws and our treaty obligations." Notwith- 
standing this executive discountenance of such a project, an expedition, 
with the above object in view, left New Orleans on the 25th of April and 
on the 2 2d of May. It consisted of three hundred men, under the com- 
mand of General Lopez. The ostensible object of the expedition was 
a voyage to California, and it is asserted that not a few of the men en- 
listed under this assurance. So secretly had the enterprise been planned 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 325 

and executed, as to escape the knowledge of the American government 
and the vigilance of the Spanish consuls. On the morning of the 19th 
of May, General Lopez landed his force at Cardenas, immediately upon 
which a combat ensued between the invaders and the garrison. This 
resulted in the repulse of the latter, the capture of the Governor, the 
plunder of the palace, and the seizure of the public money. Whether 
assurances had been given to the invaders that they might expect the 
assistance and co-operation of the inhabitants, is not certain, but upon 
no other presumption can the officers of the expedition be aquitted of 
consummate folly and infatuation. Be this, however, as it may, the in- 
vaders found to their disappointment that Cuban patriotism was not a 
nonentity. Lopez and his followers were soon made to feel the necessity 
of an immediate escape, in order to save their lives. Taking with him a 
few followers, he hastily re-embarked, leaving the great body of his ad- 
herents to the tender mercies of the authorities of Cuba. 

No sooner had this expedition left the American coast, and its object 
had transpired, than President Taylor despatched several armed vessels 
to prevent, if possible, its landing in Cuba. In this, however, the inten- 
tions of the American executive were frustrated ; the invaders having 
effected a landing before the pursuing vessels could overtake them. On 
the return of Lopez to New Orleans he was arrested and held for trial. 
Two vessels in the Mexican waters, laden with men suspected of being 
part of the invading expedition, were captured by a Spanish steamer and 
taken into Havana. On the demand of the President, however, these 
men were at length released, their being no evidence that they were in 
anywise connected with the expedition. Indeed, of all who were left by 
Lopez in Cuba, and who participated in the invasion, but two or three 
were ultimately condemned to punishment, and these were sent to the 
galleys. 

CLAYTON-BULWER TREATY. 

An important diplomatic incident of this administration was the con- 
clusion, on July 4, 1850, of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty between the 
United States and Great Britain. This treaty provided for the establish- 
ment of a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by 
means of a ship canal, to be constructed by way of the river San Juan de 
Nicaragua, and either or both of the lakes of Nicaragua or Maragua, to 
any port or place on the Pacific Ocean. It also bound the two Signatory 



326 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

Powers to refrain from territorial conquests in Central America, and from 
the exercise of exclusive control over the proposed canal. 

DEATH OF 2ACHARY TAYLOR. 

The history of events now brings us to an unexpected and most 
afBictive dispensation — the sudden death of General Taylor, on the even- 
ing of the 9th of July. On the 4th of that month — memorable in the 
annals of American history — he had participated in a celebration in honor 
of the day, during which he had suffered greatly from exposure and 
fatigue. Consequent upon these he was taken ill, and after a few days 
of suffering he surrendered his spirit into the hands of God, who gave 
it — leaving to his friends and the nation his assurance that he "had en- 
deavored to discharge his duty." His funeral was attended by a large 
military gathering, by the officers of the general government, the repre- 
sentatives of foreign nations, and by an immense concourse of his fellow- 
citizens. 

ACCESSION OF FILLMORE. 

President Taylor died during the session of Congress, and Millard 
Fillmore, in accordance with the provision of the Constitution, became 
President of the United States. 

Soon after the accession of Mr. Fillmore the series of important acts 
were passed by Congress, which had been proposed by Mr. Clay as 
"compromise measures." These acts consisted of the admission of 
California into the Union as a State, the establishment of the boundary 
of Texas, the organization of the Territories of New Mexico and Utah, 
the suppression of the slave-trade in the District of Columbia, and the 
law for the rendition of fugitive slaves. 

The act for the rendition of fugitive slaves, which was passed in the 
House of Representatives, on the 12th of September, 1850, by a vote of 
one hundred and nine to seventy-five, contains some provisions which 
were very offensive to the Whig party generally, and to most of the 
people in the free States, and its execution was, in some cases, attended 
with much opposition. 

THE LOPEZ EXPEDITION. 

In April, 185 1, President Fillmore, having been informed of another 
attempt to invade Cuba by lawless citizens of the United States, under 
the command of Lopez, issued a proclamation warning them of the 
consequences. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 327 

The expedition, however, comprising several hundred men, a part 
of them foreigners, sailed from New Orleans in August, and landed in 
Cuba on the northern cost of the western department of that island. To 
their landing there was no opposition. 

Leaving Colonel Crittenden with one hundred men in charge of the 
stores, Lopez himself, with the remainder of his command, advanced into 
the interior, expecting that his standard would be joined by the inhabi- 
tants of the island. But in this he was disappointed, as also in obtaining 
provisions or encouragement of any sort. 

The day following Colonel Crittenden and his force were attacked 
by Spanish troops, and compelled to retreat. They procured small boats, 
in which they put to sea, but were captured on the 15th by the Spanish 
Steamer " Habenero." On the 17th they were shot at Havana. 

On the 1 3th General Lopez was also attacked by a large body of 
Spanish troops at Las Posas. The action was severe, but the Spaniards 
were repulsed. Lopez lost about fifty men, among whom was Colonel Bra- 
gay, an officer who had served with distinction in Hungary. Perceiving, 
however, that aid from the inhabitants was not to be expected, and that 
the maintenance of his position was impracticable, Lopez determined to 
conceal himself in the mountains. In his march thither he inflicted serious 
loss Upon Spanish troops who encountered him. On the 29th, however, 
he was captured and taken to Havana, where, two days later, he was put 
to death. 

INCIDENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 

During Mr. Fillmore's administration the first treaty with Hawaii 
was made, and the question of annexing those islands to the United 
States was considered ; the Territory of Washington was formed and 
organized; the practice of flogging in the Navy was abolished; and the 
capitol at Washington was greatly enlarged and beautified. 

Although Mr. Fillmore, by signing the fugitive slave law bill, lost 
the support of many of his party, yet most of the measures of his admin- 
istration were popular ; some of the most noted of which were the re- 
duction of inland postage to three cents on each single letter when pre- 
paid ; and an expedition to Japan, in 1852, under the command of 
Commodore Perry, which resulted in a favorable treaty with that empire, 
which was ratified by the Senate in 1854; and when he retired from 
office he left the country at peace and in a high state of prosperity 



328 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEAR& 

ELECTION OF PIERCE. 

As Mr. Fillmore's term of office was limited to March 4, 1853, it 
became necessary for the great parties of the country seasonably to 
nominate their respective candidates to succeed him. Accordingly, on 
the 1st of June, a Democratic National Convention met at Baltimore. 
The number of delegates present was two hundred and eighty-eight ; and 
a rule was adopted requiring a vote of two-thirds (192) for a nomi- 
nation. Unsuccessful ballotings were had for four days, and it was not 
until the forty-ninth ballot that General Franklin Pierce, of New Hamp- 
shire, received the nomination. Upon the forty-eighth ballot he received 
one hundred and fifty-five votes, the remainder being divided between 
Messrs. Cass, Buchanan and Marcy. Upon the forty-ninth trial he 
received one hundred and eighty-two votes. Hon. William R. King, of 
Alabama, was nominated for Vice-President. 

The Whig National Convention met likewise at Baltimore on the 
17th of June, and after four days' obstinate contest between the supporters 
of President Fillmore, Secretary Webster and General Winfield Scott, 
finally nominated the last named for President, with Hon. William A. 
Graham, of North Carolina, for Vice-President. 

The Free Democracy National Convention, which assembled at 
Pittsburg in August nominated John P. Hale for President and George 
W. Julian for Vice-President. 

The election in November resulted in the choice of the Democratic 
candidate, Franklin Pierce. 




GENERAL SHERMAN 



- .«*: 




ADMIRAL DEWEY 




GENERAL ROBERTS 





GENERAL von MOLTKE 



GENERAL MEADE 




GENERAL LE! 




GENERAL MILES 



186O-LEADING GENERALS AND ADMIRALS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 





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■ ■ .■ ■ ■ ■■■ 

!■■■■■■ 




CHAPTER XXVI. 



The Frankfort Parliament — Organizing' a German League — An Error of 
Tactics — A Christmas Gift to Germany — Framing' a Constitution — A 
King Declines to be Emperor — A Conflict with the King's— 
Revolutionary Movements — The First " Dreibund " — Final 
Failure of the Congress — Schleswig-Holstein — Kossuth's 
Campaign — Russian Intervention — Another Italian 
War — Itaiian Republic Crushed — The Taiping Re- 
bellion — Indian Affairs — Death of Lopez in 
Cuba — Imperial Ambitions — The Coup 
D'Etat — Restoration of the Empire — 
Rebuilding Paris. 



WHILE the States of Europe were convulsed with the storm 
of revolution, a grand national assembly at Frankfort was 
endeavoring to devise a constitution which should form 
Germany into a great and united State. This assembly, 
which may be called the German Parliament, to distinguish it from 
the Reichstag or Bundestag, had been summoned by the Vorparla- 
ment, and was opened in the church of St. Paul on May 18, 1848. 
It contained at first 300 members, but their number was afterwards 
increased to 500. The Parliament failed to carry out its resolutions, 
but nevertheless it was a notable experiment, and a worthy ex- 
ponent of the hopes and aspirations of the noblest minds of Germany. 
The great obstacle to its success was that it had nothing but moral 
force to rely upon ; that it trusted to the enthusiasm of the people 
to triumph over the jealous interests of the princes and the deeply- 
rooted tendencies to disunion. From the first the assembly was 
divided into three fairly distinct parties. On the right the conserva- 
tives, headed by von Radowitz and Vincke, wished to negotiate an 
agreement between the Parliament and the independent princes and 
governments of the separate States. On the left the democrats, led 
by Robert Blum of Leipsic, aimed at the establishment of a federal 
republic, and made up for their numerical weakness by stirring up 
the passions of the lower classes. The centre was the largest party, 



18 



jj 1 



332 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

and comprised many of the most eminent men in Germany. Among 
its leaders were Gagern, Dahlmann, Gervinus, Arndt, Beseler, and 
Jacob Grimm. These men were the partisans of constitutional mon- 
archy. They were imbued with the most ardent love of their country, 
but their want of practical experience in public business exposed 
them to the charge of being doctrinaires. 

ORGANIZING A GERMAN LEAGUE. 

The choice of the president, Gagern, gave evidence that the 
centre was likely to have the decisive voice. The first business was 
to establish an executive government to take the place of the effete 
and useless Bundestag. After a long discussion it was decided to 
choose a provisional administrator from among the younger members 
of the ruling families. The choice fell upon the archduke John, who 
had shown popular sympathies, and who, as a Hapsburg, was likely 
to be acceptable to the princes. The election was intended to be a 
temporary compromise. The party of Gagern and Dahlmann was 
fully determined to entrust the headship of a new constitutional em- 
pire to the King" of Prussia, and the weakness of Austria at this time 
made such a measure more than usually feasible. But at the moment 
Frederick William IV. was extremely unpopular in Germany, and it 
was necessary to gain time in order that this feeling might die away. 
On July 1 1 the administrator made his formal entry into Frankfort, 
and the Bundestag resigned its functions into his hands. He pro- 
ceeded to nominate a ministry which should be responsible for all 
acts of the executive. From the first the weakness of the central 
government was obvious to all eyes. The Parliament ordered that 
all German troops should take an oath of fealty to the administrator. 
But the princes were by no means inclined to sacrifice one iota of their 
military independence, and in the larger States the order was simply 
disregarded. It was manifest that the central government existed only 
by the tolerance of the States, and if they refused to obey there was no 
force which could compel their obedience. 

AN ERROR OF TACTICS. 

Before proceeding to draw up the new constitution, the Parliament 
set itself to formulate " the fundamental rights of the German people." 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



333 



This was a grotesque error of tactics. The discussion of first principles 
naturally led to an endless discussion, and during the delay the princes 
were recovering strength. The first impulse of the revolutionary 
movement might have been strong enough to force a federal constitution 
upon Germany, but the Parliament foolishly allowed this impulse to 
spend itself and a reaction to set in before they entered upon their 
real task. 

A CHRISTMAS GIFT TO GERMANY. 

By the end of 1848 the Parliament had drawn up the "fundamental 
rights," and published them as a Christmas present to the nation. They 
were based on the prevailing liberal theories, and included legal equality 
for all men without regard to class privileges, the abolition of all feudal 
dues and burdens on the peasants, the freedom of the press, religious 
equality, trial by jury, the abolition of capital punishment, etc. The 
lesser States accepted them, the greater States took no notice, and they 
were soon forgotten. The assembly now turned to the great question 
of the constitution. By lar the most important problem was the relation 
of Austria to a German federation. In the early part of the year 
Austria, then in the thick of her difficulties, had been disregarded, but 
matters had been completely altered in October by the reduction of 
Vienna to obedience. The restoration of the Holy Roman Empire with 
a Hapsburg head was impossible, because Prussia would never submit 
to it. Equally impossible in the eyes of the assembly was a return to 
the old organization of the Bund, which had completely proved its 
inefficiency. In these circumstances the Parliament had three alternatives 
to choose between. (1) Austria might be split up, and its German 
provinces might be united with the German federation. (2) The 
Austrian empire might be left as it stood, and be excluded from Germany 
altogether. (3) Even though this latter plan were carried out, some 
bond might be found to unite the Austrian empire with the German 
federation. This last was the plan adopted by Gagern and his immedi- 
ate followers, who proposed to form two federations — a smaller, which 
should exclude, and a larger, which should include, Austria. But this 
proposal alienated a number of sincere patriots, who could not endure 
the formation of a united Germany to which any Germans were refused 
admission. 



.,,, STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

FRAMING A CONSTITUTION. 

Parties being so evenly divided on a question of vital importance, 
the work of framing the constitution proceeded slowly. It was decided 
that the executive government should have the conduct of foreign 
relations, the supreme control of the army, and the right of deciding 
peace or war. The legislature was to consist of two houses : a federal 
chamber (Statenhaus) , based on the independence of the States ; and a 
popular chamber ( Volkshaus), based upon the unity of the people. The 
most obstinate discussion naturally arose about the form which the 
executive government should take. The extreme right proposed a 
simple return to the old Bundestag, the extreme left proposed to establish 
an elective presidency to which any adult German might aspire. Between 
these two schemes every conceivable variety of government was brought 
forward for discussion. Some wanted a "directory" of princes, with 
Austria or Prussia as alternate presidents ; others a triple executive, in 
which Bavaria should be associated with the two great powers. Austria 
demanded that there should be a directory of seven princes, with nine 
votes, Austria and Prussia having two votes each. Gradually the 
advantages of a single head were realized, but even then further 
difficulties arose. Should he be elective or hereditary ? should he bear 
the imperial or some other title? should the office pass in rotation among 
the great families ? The party of Gagern stood firm to their original 
programme, the appointment of a single hereditary emperor, and they 
carried the day. This pointed to the election of the Prussian king, and 
exclusion of Austria. The "Great German" party was so indignant at 
this that they allied themselves with the left to introduce democratic pro- 
visions into the constitution, hoping to ensure its failure. In conse- 
quence of this alliance, manhood suffrage was fixed for the popular 
chamber, and the veto of the emperor was made suspensive instead of 
absolute. The constitutional party realized that these article's threatened 
their scheme with shipwreck, but they could obtain no other terms. The 
constitution was carried as a whole. On April 3d, 1849, a deputation 
appeared in Berlin to offer the hereditary empire to the king of Prussia. 

A KING DECLINES TO BE EMPEROR. 

The offer was sufficiently tempting, but Frederick William IV. 
made up his mind at the last moment to refuse it, and it must be 




1861— DEFENDING FORT SUMTER 




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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. T>37 

confessed that he had ample reason for doing so. The democratic 
clauses which the left had tacked on to the constitution were distasteful 
to a prince who had had to contend with the populace in his own 
capital, and the crown could not be accepted without the constitution. 
The whole work of the Parliament had originated with the revolution, 
and the king would receive no gift from such a source. 

A CONFLICT WITH THE KINGS. 

The refusal of Prussia gave a great advantage to the democratic 
party at Frankfort, and this was increased by the withdrawal of the 
Austrian deputies (April 14). In Prussia the lower chamber petitioned 
the king to accept the proposals from Frankfort, and was dissolved on 
April 27. But the Parliament refused to be daunted, and decreed on 
May 4 that all governments should be called upon to accept the consti- 
tution ; that if the king of Prussia refused the headship of the empire 
it should be conferred provisionally upon the next most powerful prince ; 
that the first diet, elected in the manner provided for, should meet on 
August 22. 

REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS. 

To enforce these decrees, the now dominant left determined to 
employ the revolutionary methods which had been so potent in the 
previous year. A riot in Dresden compelled the king to fly to Konig- 
stein, and a provisional government was erected. But the troops, 
with Prussian assistance, speedily got the better of the mob, and an 
attempted rising in Leipsic was also suppressed. More important were 
the revolutions in Baden and the Palatinate, but here also Prussia inter- 
vened with decisive effect. The Parliament was now completely dis- 
credited. The Prussian and Saxon deputies were withdrawn, and 
Gagern, finding himself in a hopeless minority, resigned office with 
his colleagues. The democrats, thus left to their own devices, passed 
futile protests against the action of Prussia, and took the revolutionary 
movement under their feeble protection. Thinking Frankfort insecure, 
they transferred their session to Stuttgart (June 6); but when they 
endeavored to excite a movement among the mob, the government of 
Wurtemberg closed the hall against them, and the first German Parlia- 
ment came to an end on June 18, 1849 



338 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

THE FIRST " DREIBUND." 

As Austria was at this time occupied with the wars in Hungary 
and Italy, the restoration of order in Germany fell to Prussia, which 
thus obtained a commanding position. Frederick William IV. had not 
refused the offer of the empire from any personal unwillingness or 
want of ambition ; on the contrary he was eager to become the head 
of Germany, if he could do so with the consent of the other govern- 
ments, instead of being forced upon them by a revolutionary Assem- 
bly. In May 17, 1849, he opened a conference of princes at Berlin, 
before which he laid his plan of a confederation exclusive of Austria. 
Prussia was to be president of a college of princes with six votes, 
and a federal Parliament was to be formed of two chambers. Bavaria 
withdrew from the meeting, but Hanover and Saxony remained, 
and thus was formed the "league of the three kings" (Dreikon- 
igsbund). The party of Gagern and Dahlmann held a meeting at 
Gotha (the Nachparlament) to express their approval of the Prus- 
sian plan. 

But Austria now succeeded in putting down the opposition in 
Italy and Hungary and prepared to vindicate its position in Germany. 
Bavaria and Wurtemberg offered their mediation, and the Interim was 
arranged as a compromise between the two rival powers. This 
formed a commission, appointed by Austria and Prussia, into whose 
hands the administrator was to resign his functions, and which should 
act as a provisional government in Germany until May, 1, 1850. The 
Prussian king met the emperor of Austria at Toplitz (September 7) 
and accepted this agreement. But the rivalry of the two States continued 
until a permanent settlement could be arranged. The "league of 
the three kings" was broken up by the secession at Hanover and Sax- 
ony, but Prussia adhered to its plan of forming a "Union" apart from 
Austria. The issue of a new Prussian constitution (February 6, 1850), 
conciliated the liberal party in Germany, while Austria relied upon the 
arbitrary tendencies of the princes. On March 20th the second Ger- 
man Parliament met at Erfurt, but it had none of the prestige or 
independence of its predecessor at Frankfort. It was completely sub- 
servient to Prussian influence, and sat only to confirm the projected 
" Union," which was now joined by Hesse-Cassel, Oldenburg, Baden, 
Weimar, and other lesser States. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 339 

FINAL FAILURE OF THE CONGRESS. 

But Austria refused to fall without a struggle from the leading 
position it had so long held in Germany, and could rely upon the un- 
hesitating support of the four kingdoms and of Russia, which now 
began to exercise a great influence in German affairs. The ministry 
of Schwarzenberg took the bold step of summoning the old Bundes- 
tag to Frankfort, and the summons was obeyed by all the States 
which had not joined the " Union." Germany was thus divided into 
two hostile camps, and only a slight impulse was needed to bring 
about a civil war. For the moment a conflict seemed inevitable. But 
in Prussia a strong party had arisen under the leadership of Gerlach, 
Retzow, and Bismarck-Schonhausen, which disapproved of all the recent 
acts of the government, and wished to prevent the absorption of Prus- 
sia into Germany. The influence of this party, and the intervention of 
Russia, prevented Frederick William IV from embarking in a war, the 
issue of which was more than doubtful. A conference at Olmiitz ended 
in the conclusion of a convention (November 29), by which Prussia 
gave up the "Union," withdrew its protection from the movement in 
Hesse, and agreed to join a conference at Dresden for the settlement 
of German affairs. 

The conference of Dresden was opened under the presidency of 
Schwarzenberg on December 23. From the first it was evident that 
the influence of Russia would be decisive. The motives of the Czar's 
policy were very simple. He wished to maintain the rivalry of Austria 
and Prussia, and, by supporting the lesser States to prevent either of 
them from obtaining increased power. He demanded, therefore, the 
simple restoration of the old state of things before 1848. This was the 
net result of the conference, which was closed on May 15, 1850. On 
the same day a Prussian plenipotentiary joined the Bundestag at Frank- 
fort. Thus the great movement ended in complete failure. 

SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN. 

The intricate question of Schleswig-Holstein was still unsettled. 
In March, 1849, the Danish government declared the truce of Malmo 
at an end and renewed the war. The German Bund dispatched 



34-0 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

45,000 troops to the assistance of the duchies, and the Danes were 
defeated in several engagements. But a decisive Danish victory at 
Fredericia (July 6) compelled the acceptance of a truce by which 
Schleswig and Holstein were separated. The latter duchy, as a mem- 
ber of the Bund, was to remain under the rule of the administrator, 
but Schleswig was to receive a Danish government, and the German 
troops were to be withdrawn. A year later this arrangement was 
confirmed by a definitive treaty between Denmark and Prussia (July 
2, 1850). The duchies, however, refused to accept the treaty and con- 
tinued the war on their own account. But they were defeated in one 
battle after another, and foreign intervention stepped in to put an 
end to the contest. At the conference of Olmiitz, Austria and Prussia 
agreed to take joint measures to restore peace in Schleswig and 
Holstein. Their troops marched into the duchies and compelled the 
cessation of hostilities. Ultimately the treaty of London (May 8, 1852), 
signed by England, Russia, Austria, France, Prussia, and Sweden, 
guaranteed the integrity of the Danish monarchy, the succession to 
which was promised to Christian of Gliicksburg and his male issue. 
The rights of the German Confederation in Holstein were left undis- 
turbed, and the duke of Augustenburg, whose legal claim to the 
duchies was arbitrarily disregarded, was obliged to content himself 
with a pecuniary compensation. Frederick of Denmark granted his 
subjects a new constitution (October 1855) and allowed Schleswig and 
Holstein to retain separate provincial estate. But he failed to con- 
ciliate the affection of his German subjects, and their discontent sur- 
vived to be the source of future complications. 

KOSSUTH'S CAMPAIGN. 

The Austrian Emperor, Francis Joseph, recognized '.hat his first 
task was the reduction of Hungary, and entrusted Windischgratz with 
the completion of the work which had been so successfully commenced 
at Prague and Vienna. The Hungarians refused to accept the abdication 
of Ferdinand, and the government was still carried on in his name. 
Kossuth was compelled to adopt this course to conciliate the army 
and its leader, Gorgey, who were determined not to act as rebels, and 
had no sympathy with the republican aspirations of the great orator. 
Windischgratz began the campaign on December 15th, and met with no 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. . 34 1 

real opposition to his early movements. Kossuth's plan was to give up 
western Hungary to the invaders in order to entice them into the marshy 
districts of the interior during the winter season. The committee of 
national defence, of which Kossuth was president, abandoned Pesth, and 
the city was occupied by the Austrians (June 5th, 1849). From this 
moment the cause of the insurgents triumphed. Bern, a Polish exile, 
who had commanded in the recent defence of Vienna and had escaped 
from the conquerors, was sent to act against the Saxon population of 
Transylvania, which refused to accept the rule of the Magyars and main- 
tained the cause of the imperial government. By the end of February 
he succeeded in reducing the whole province. Windischgratz now 
advanced from Pesth into the interior. At Kapolna (February 26-2 7th) 
a two days' battle took place, but the Hungarians retired to the river 
Theiss. There a number of battles were fought to defend the passage 
of the river, and everywhere the Austrians were repulsed. Gorgey was 
now able to take the aggressive, and carried all before him. Windisch- 
gratz was recalled, but his successor, Welden, found it necessary to 
evacuate Pesth. The Hungarians returned to the capital in triumph, 
and stormed Buda (Ofen) on the opposite bank of the Danube, after a 
heroic defence on the part of the garrison (May 21st). The Austrian 
army retreated to Pressburg, in the extreme west of the kingdom. The 
triumph of the insurgents was celebrated by the declaration of Hunga- 
rian independence (April 14th), and the creation of a provisional 
government, with Kossuth at its head. This bold step destroyed the 
last chance of a compromise, but at the same time it alienated Gorgey, 
who henceforth acted in complete independence. 

RUSSIAN INTERVENTION. 

The Austrian government began to despair of reducing Hungary 
by its own efforts, and turned for assistance to Russia, the patron of all 
States contending against revolution. On May 21st, the very day on 
which Buda surrendered, Francis Joseph met the Czar in a personal 
interview at Warsaw. Nicholas was afraid lest the success of the Hunga- 
rians might provoke a rising in Poland, which was more likely, as many 
Poles were serving in the Hungarian army, and willingly accorded the 
aid that was demanded. In June, Paskiewitch entered Hungary with 
130,000 men, and the command of the Austrians was entrusted to 



34 2 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

Haynau, already notorious for the severity with which he had treated the 
defeated Italians of Lombardy. The eloquence of Kossuth induced the 
Hungarians to carry on a desperate guerilla warfare against the invaders. 
But the contest was too unequal, and the differences between the military 
and the civil leaders weakened the national cause. At Temesvar one 
division of the Hungarian army, under Dembinski, was crushed by 
Haynau (August 9th). Kossuth now resigned his office and proceeded 
to Transylvania. Gorgey was appointed dictator, but he had already 
opened negotiations with the Russians, and on August 13th he surren- 
dered with his whole army to General Rudiger at Vilagos. This 
practically ended the war. Kossuth and Bern fled to Turkey, where the 
Porte refused to give them up. Kossuth afterward came to the United 
States. Gorgey was able to secure his personal safety, but the other 
leaders received scant mercy from Haynau and his military tribunals. 
Hungary had to pay dearly for its rebellion. It lost all independence 
and all constitutional freedom, and sank for a short time into a vassal 
province of Austria. 

ANOTHER ITALIAN WAR. 

Meanwhile the temporary success of the Hungarians in the early 
part of 1849 na -d involved Austria in a second Italian war. All the 
attempts of England and France to negotiate a final peace between 
Austria and Sardinia had failed. The government at Vienna refused to 
entertain any proposal except the complete restoration of Austrian rule 
and of the government allied with Austria. For Charles Albert to 
accept these terms, except under the pressure of complete defeat, would 
deprive the Sardinian monarchy for ever of the respect and trust of 
Italy. On March 9th the king took the bold step of putting an end to 
the armistice, which had been prolonged since August, 1848. It was 
hoped the Austrian arms would be sufficiently employed in the Hunga- 
rian war and in the siege at Venice. But Radetsky was confident of 
success, and hastened to engage in a contest which he hoped would 
finally settle affairs in Italy. Instead of waiting to be attacked he invaded 
Piedmont, and in the battle of Novara inflicted a crushing defeat upon 
the Sardinians, who were commanded by the Polish general Chrzanowski 
(March 23d). So disastrous was the battle, and so exorbitant the terms 
proposed by Radetsky, that on the same evening Charles Albert abdicated 
in favor of his eldest son, Victor Emanuel II., and quitted Italy for 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 343 

Oporto, where he died on July 28th. The new King was married to the 
daughter of an Austrian archduke, and had not inspired the same 
invincible distrust as his father. Radetsky now offered an immediate 
armistice, on condition that Victor Emanuel should pledge himselt to 
conclude a peace as soon as possible, to reduce his army to a peace 
footing, and to hand over the fortress of Alessandria to Austrian occupa- 
tion as a hostage for his good faith. These terms, though far milder 
than had been offered to Charles Albert, were resented as dishonorable 
in Turin, and the young King had to enter his capitol by night to avoid 
the risk of being insulted by his new subjects. Few men could have 
anticipated that a ruler whose reign began under such gloomy auspices 
would become before its close the recognized King of a free and united 
Italy. A revolt in Lombardy which had broken out when hostilities 
commenced, was put down by the Austrians with prompt severity. 
Brescia, the only place which made a conspicuous resistance, was stormed 
by Haynau, whose conduct on this occasion earned for him the name of 
the "Hyena of Brescia," and a reputation for cruelty which was 
enhanced by his subsequent deeds in Hungary. The final treaty between 
Austria and Sardinia (August 6th) restored matters to their condition 
before the war, the defeated country having to pay an indemnity of 
seventy-five million francs. 

ITALIAN REPUBLICS CRUSHED. 

After their success in the North, the Austrians proceeded to 
complete their work by putting down the revolution in the other 
provinces of Italy. Entering Tuscany, they occupied Florence, put 
down the Republic, and restored the authority of the grand duke. 
Leopold now returned from Gaeta, revoked the constitution which he 
had granted in the previous year, and restored the old system of ab- 
solute rule. Parma, Bologna and Ancona were successively occupied 
by the Austrians, who would undoubtedly have advanced upon Rome 
if they had not been anticipated by the French. General Oudinot, 
with 8000 men, landed at Civita Vecchia on April 5, and at once 
marched against the city. The republican leaders determined on a 
desperate resistance, and after seven hours' fighting the assailants were 
driven back from the walls (April 30). But Oudinot received rein- 
forcements, which enabled him to invest the city with 35,000 men, 



344 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

and, after resisting for a month, Rome was taken on July 3. 
Garibaldi, who had been the inspiring- leader of the defence, escaped 
with his devoted followers to the mountains. Oudinot put an end to 
the Roman republic by establishing a government in the Pope's name, 
but Pius IX. refused to trust himself to his foreign allies, and con- 
tinued to reside at Gaeta. Venice was now completely isolated but 
continued to make a heroic resistance until August 26th, when it was 
compelled, partly by the bombardment, and partly by famine, to capitu- 
late. Manin, the hero of the short-lived period of liberty, was allowed 
to retire for the remainder of his life into exile, 

THE TAIPING REBELLION. 

The Taiping rebellion, which broke out in China in 1850, was 
little noticed by the rest of the world, but was really one of the most 
colossal and destructive wars ever waged. It was organized by a 
Hakka school-teacher named Hung Tsu Tseuen, who had received 
instruction from American missionaries. He gathered about him a 
vast and heterogeneous army, whose professed object was to expel the 
Tartar dynasty and restore the true Chinese to power. The rebellion 
made almost unhindered progress, and in 1853 Hung captured Nan- 
king, the old capital of the true Chinese dynasties, and there estab- 
lished his court as a rival of the emperor at Pekin. There he lived 
and maintained himself, in spite of the utmost effects of the Emperor, 
for many years. The downfall of his power and suppression of the 
rebellion belong to a later chapter of this book. 

INDIAN AFFAIRS. 

We have already told of the two Sikh wars and the annexation 
of the Punjaub to British India, which occurred in 1849. A second 
war with Burmah broke out in 1852, on account of the savagery of 
the reigning King. A British expedition quickly captured Martaban 
and Rangoon, in April, 1852. 

The city of Prome was taken with slight trouble in October, 
and on December 20th the maritime province of Pegu was annexed by 
the British, and the King was warned that any further misbehavior 
on his part would result in the confiscation of all the rest of his 
dominions. 




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'-TORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 347 

DEATH OF LOPEZ IN CUBA. 

The operations of the filibuster Narciso Lopez in Cuba, in which 
he had much support from the United States, have elsewhere been 
noticed. His last expedition to the island was made in 1851, and 
resulted in his death. 

The same year was marked with a Montenegrin uprising against 
the Turks, and the year following with a similar revolt in Bosnia, 
neither of which made serious headway or effected important results. 

IMPERIAL AMBITIONS. 

From the first Louis Napoleon made it his aim to abolish the 
republic in France and to revive the empire. In complete contrast to 
Louis Philippe, who had relied upon the middle class, he sought sup- 
port from the peasants, the army, and the priests. 

As the period of presidency was running out, and the constitution 
prohibited his re-election, it became necessary for Louis Napoleon to 
take active measures to secure his power. He was always discussing 
schemes with his associates, but could never make up his mind as to 
the exact moment for executing them. As his designs became more 
and more apparent, the assembly began to show distrust and hostility. 
In January, 185 1, General Changarnier was dismissed from the com- 
mand of the Paris garrison and the national guard, apparently because 
his regiments had not raised the cry of "Vive l'Empereur ! " at the 
recent reviews. The assembly declared its confidence in the general 
and its want of confidence in the ministry. This compelled the retire- 
ment of the ministers, but their successors were equally docile to the 
president, and equally unacceptable to the legislature. Petitions got 
up by Napoleon's agents, poured in from the provinces to demand a 
revision of the constitution, but the requisite majority of votes in the 
assembly could not be obtained, and the project was dropped. Napo- 
leon was determined to throw himself upon the support of the people. 
The assembly had made itself very unpopular by the law of May 30, 
1850, which had reduced the number of electors to three millions. 
The ministers proposed the repeal of the law, but the majority refused 
to give up their measure. Thus the President posed as the champion 
of democratic liberties against the oligarchical and reactionary assem- 
bly. At last Louis Napoleon considered that his time had come, and 



348 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

fixed December 2d, the anniversary of Austerlitz, as the date of the 
long-meditated coup d'etat. 

THE COUP D'ETAT. 

The necessary preparations had been carefully made by Napo- 
leon's agents, M. de Morny, Generals St. Arnaud and Magnan, and 
M. de Maupas, the prefect of police. On the night of the first, while 
suspicions were lulled by a grand party at the Elysee, the troops 
were distributed, and the necessary placards and proclamations were 
printed at the government press. The first blow was struck by the 
imprisonment of the most dangerous opponents. Generals Cavaignac, 
Changarnier, Lamoriciere, Bedeau, together with Thiers, Victor Hugo, 
and Eugene Sue, were simultaneously seized in the middle of the 
night and dispersed to different prisons. In the morning proclamations 
appeared in all the streets announcing that the National Assembly 
had dissolved, that a new election was to take place on December 
14, that universal suffrage was restored, and that Paris and the De- 
partment of the Seine were in a state of siege. A new ministry was 
announced, in which Morny was minister of the interior ; St. Arnaud, 
of war ; M. Rouher, of justice, and M. Fould, of finance. In an "appeal 
to the people" Louis Napoleon proposed that the executive head of 
the government should be chosen for ten years, and that a Council 
of State, a Senate, and a Legislative Assembly should be created on 
the model of his uncle's constitution of the 18th Brumaire. Mean- 
while, about 250 deputies met in the Palais Bourbon, and were pre- 
paring a protest against the action of the President, when the hall 
was surrounded by troops, and they found themselves prisoners. By 
this act the opposition was deprived of any common centre of union. 
Isolated revolts took place on the next two days, and the usual barri- 
cades were erected, but the troops gained an easy victory, though not 
without considerable bloodshed. By the evening of the 4th the suc- 
cess of the coup d'etat was secured. The plebiscite was commenced 
on December 20, and resulted in an enormous majority in favor of 
the new constitution. The number of recorded votes was 7,439,216 
to 646,757. The result of this vote was that Napoleon became Presi- 
dent for ten years, and the chief constitutional checks upon his power 
were removed. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS 34-) 

RESTORATION OF THE EMPIRE. 

Like all restored Princes, Louis Napoleon was an imitator. On 
December 2d he had closely copied the 18th Brumaire ; his constitution, 
which was formally issued on January 15th, returned to the system of 
the first Napoleon ; the uncle had been Consul, the nephew was Presi- 
dent. To complete the external parallel, it was only necessary to get 
rid of the republican title by reviving the empire, and it was certain that 
this would not be long delayed. The gold eagles were restored to the 
standards ; Napoleon's name was substituted for that of the Republic in 
the public prayers ; the National Guard was re-constituted ; the President 
took up his residence in the Tuileries. In the autumn Louis Napoleon 
made a grand tour through the provinces and was everywhere received 
with shouts of " Vive l'Empereur ! " The Senate was directed to discuss 
the matter, and it was decided once more to have recourse to plebiscite. 
The proposal was that Louis Napoleon should be chosen hereditary 
Emperor of the French, with the right of settling the succession among 
the members of his family. It was carried without a discussion by 
7,824,12910253,145. On December 2d, 1852, the new Emperor was pro- 
claimed as Napoleon III. 

REBUILDING PARIS. 

A great revival of material prosperity followed the restoration of 
order, and the ardent pursuit of money-making proved an excellent salve 
for political discontent. The constitution of January, 1852, was renewed 
with a few modifications, which increased the power of the Emperor, and 
further humiliated the Corps Legislatif. The government adopted the 
economical fallacy that unproductive expenditure is beneficial to the 
laborers. A great part of Paris was pulled down to make room for 
more magnificent buildings. The Rue de Rivoli was extended almost 
to the Faubourg St. Antoine, and thus was demolished the labyrinth of 
lanes which formerly surrounded the Hotel de Ville, and made it 
always liable to a surprise. The first duty of the founder of the 
new dynasty was to marry. Napoleon began by looking round for 
a Princess ; but he found the established dynasties so cool in response 
to his overtures that he determined to conciliate democratic prejudices 
by an alliance with a subject. His choice fell upon Donna Eugenia di 
Montijo, the widow of a Spanish general who had fought under Napo- 
leon I., and the marriage was solemnized in January, 1853. 



CHAPTER XXVIL 



Barth's Explorations in Africa— Necrology— London World's Fair— Gold 
in Australia— Helmholtz and the Ophthalmoscope— Caloric Engines- 
Personal— Kossuth and His Visit— Reception in New York— Death 
of Mr. Clay— His Career at Washington— Death of Mr. Web- 
ster—His Early Career— In Public Life— The Great Ex- 
pounder of the Constitution — Close of His Career — 
Submarine Boats — Submarine Telegraphy— The 
Brothers Brett— The First Cable— Triumph 
at Last— Extension of the System. 



ATTENTION was called to the as yet little known continent of 
Africa at the middle of the century by the explorations of Dr. 
Heinrich Barth, the German naturalist. His most important 
journey in Africa was undertaken in company with two other 
explorers. Upon their death in 1851, however, he pursued his way alone, 
and during the next four years made one of the most important tours 
that had yet been effected in the Dark Continent. His observations 
were of great scientific interest, and did much toward the ultimate open- 
ing up of the continent to commerce and civilization. Indeed, his labors 
may truly be said to have marked the beginning of modern African 
exploration. The great missionary Livingstone was at the same time at 
work further south in Africa, and he discovered Lake Ngami in 1849. 

NECROLOGY. 

The death of ex-President Polk, of the United States, occurred in 

1849. Wordsworth, Poet-Laureate of England and chief of the so-called 
" Lake School " of poets, died in 1850. Sir Robert Peel died in the same 
year, having accomplished more for his country than most men of his 
time. Balzac, one of the world's chief writers of fiction, passed away in 

1850, also. 

LONDON WORLD'S FAIR. 

The opening of the World's Fair in London was an event of uni- 
versal interest. It was the first of the noteworthy series of such exhibi- 

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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 353 

tions which has since been held in various capitals of the world. The 
credit for the suggestion of it, and indeed for the successful execution of 
the plan, must be given to Albert, the Prince Consort, who was at that time 
President of the London Society of Arts. An enormous building — for 
that time — was erected in Hyde Park, constructed entirely of iron and 
glass, and accordingly known as the Crystal Palace. It covered more 
than twenty acres of ground. The total cost of the enterprise, including 
construction of the building, maintenance, superintendence, etc., amounted 
to nearly $1,500,000, and the receipts from entrance fees, etc., were more 
than $2,500,000. As a business enterprise, therefore, it was a great 
success, probably greater than any of those that have succeeded it. 

Two years later a similar exhibition, though on a smaller scale, was 
held in New York, in a building also called the Crystal Palace. It was 
of great service in stimulating industry and art, but was a financial 
failure. The building was a few years later destroyed by fire, with nearly 
all its contents. 

The year 1853 saw a third World's Fair in Dublin, which was a 
creditable display of art and industry, but was a financial failure. 

The first World's Fair in Paris was opened in 1855 as a private 
enterprise, but with a Government guarantee against loss. 

GOLD IN AUSTRALIA. 

We have related the story of the discovery of gold in California in 
1849. Two years later, in 1851, rich deposits of the precious metal were 
discovered in Australia, and a great rush of fortune-seekers to that country 
ensued, similar to that which had gone to California. The result was the 
mining of vast quantities of gold from some of the richest fields ever 
found in the world. But more than that, an impetus was given to the 
general settlement of Australia and the development of that country into 
a group of populous and prosperous colonies, which in time were to be 
united into a single mighty Commonwealth. 

HELMHOLTZ AND THE OPHTHALMOSCOPE. 

A discovery of even greater value to mankind than all the gold of 

Australia was made in the same year by a German professor at Konigs- 

berg. This was the discovery, or invention, of the ophthalmoscope by 

Herman Helmholtz. This great scientist reflected one day upon the fact 
19 



354 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

that while it is impossible in daylight to see clearly into the interior of a 
room on the opposite side of a street, it is quite easy to do so at night 
when the interior of the room is artificially illuminated. He observed, 
also, that it was possible to see the interior of the room plainly by day 
by the use of a mirror which would throw a strong light into it. These 
simple observations led him to devise the ophthalmoscope, or eye-mirror, 
by which instrument the interior of the human eye is brightly illuminated 
and its thorough examination made possible and easy. This invention 
revolutionized the science of medicine and surgery so far as it applied to 
the eye. 

Later in his distinguished career at Bonn, Helmholtz made many 
other scientific discoveries and inventions of great value, and when he 
died, in 1894, he left a record of usefulness surpassed by but few men 
of the century. 

CALORIC ENGINES. 

John Ericsson, the celebrated Swedish engineer, had long been 
experimenting with caloric or hot air engines, designed to take the place 
of steam. He had in 1838 invented the screw propellor for steamships, 
which is now in almost universal use. In 1839 he came to the United 
States, and in 1 843 revolutionized naval warfare by introducing the screw 
propeller into the United States Navy. In that same year he success- 
fully introduced also the principle of twin screws. Finally, in 1853, he 
completed a ship, which he named the " Ericsson," propelled by caloric 
engines. The caloric engine did not, however come into general favor, 
and Ericsson turned his attention to other things, of which we shall hear 
more at a later date. 

Another engineering enterprise of the highest importance in the 
same year was the beginning of surveys for a railroad across the United 
States to the Pacific Coast, which was, however, not to be completed for 
many years. 

PERSONAL. 

The death of the Duke of Wellington, in 1852, seemed an irre- 
parable loss to Great Britain, and evoked from Alfred Tennyson one of 
the finest elegiac odes in the world's literature. The same year saw the 
death of Thomas Moore, the poet. Audubon, the great naturalist ; 
Cooper, the first great American romance writer ; and Turner, one of 
the world's greatest painters, had died the year before. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 355 

KOSSUTH AND HIS VISIT. 

The year 1852 was signalized by the arrival in America of Louis 
Kossuth, accompanied by various other Hungarians, who visited the 
United States by the invitation of the American Government. 

Kossuth was born on the 27th of April, 1802, at Monok, in the 
county of Zemplin, in Hungary. His parents were of humble origin. 
He educated himself; and being a young man distinguished for his talents 
and for great energy of character ; and, moreover, inspired with patriotic 
love for his country, which was suffering and had long suffered under the 
power of Austria, he enlisted himself with others in schemes for her 
emancipation. Rising in the estimation of his countrymen, he at length 
became Governor of Hungary, and in connection with Gorgey, Bern and 
kindred spirits, seriously attempted to throw off the Austrian yoke, in 
which, perhaps, they would have succeeded but for the interposition and 
influence of Russia in favor of Austrian oppression. At length Kossuth 
and several of his friends were obliged to take refuge in and put 
themselves under the protection of Turkey. 

The knowledge of Kossuth's attempt to liberate his country, in 
connection with the efforts of other Hungarian patriots, their self-denials, 
hardships, sacrifices and sufferings in the cause, reached the United 
States, and kindled a deep sympathy for these down-trodden and self- 
exiled patriots The public sentiment in America was on their side, and 
a desire was aroused in all parts of the land that they should find an 
asylum on these western shores. Consequently, before the adjournment 
of Congress in the spring of 1851, a joint resolution was adopted author- 
izing the President to grant the use of a ship attached to the American 
squadron in the Mediterranean to transport these Hungarian exiles to 
this country. Accordingly, on being released by the sublime Porte, they 
took passage in the steamship "Mississippi" for the American shores. 
Kossuth and suit, however, stopped in England for a time, and then 
pursued their voyage to America on board the steamer " Humboldt." 
They arrived in New York on Tuesday, December 4th. At the request 
of the Mayor of New York he remained for a day on Staten Island, at 
the residence of Dr. Doane, until the authorities of New York could 
prepare for his public reception in that city. Meanwhile the citizens of 
Staten Island gave him a public welcome. On Saturday he entered the 
city of New York. 



356 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 

RECEPTION IN NEW YORK. 

On the evening of the 12th the corporation of that city entertained 
Kossuth at a splendid banquet. He made a long and able speech, ex- 
plaining the purposes which had brought him to this country, and the ac- 
tion which he desired should be taken by the people, and vindicating their 
propriety and necessity. Three distinct measures he desired. First, a 
declaration conjointly with England against the interference of Russia in 
the affairs of Hungary. Second, a declaration that the United States 
will maintain commerce with European nations whether they are in a 
state of revolution or not. And thirdly, that the people would recog- 
nize Hungary as an independent nation. If these three steps were taken 
by the people and government of the United States, in concert with those 
of England, he was confident that Russian intervention would be pre- 
vented and Hungary be enabled to assert and maintain her position as 
one among the independent nations of the earth. He also appealed to 
the people to aid Hungary in gifts and loans of money. On the evening 
of Monday, December 15th, the members of the press in the city of New 
York also gave Kossuth a splendid banquet at the Astor House. This 
was followed on the 18th by a public reception to him by the bar of New 
York. On this latter occasion he made a speech devoted mainly to the 
position that the intervention of Russia in the affairs of Hungary was a 
gross violation of the law of nations, deserving the name of piracy, and 
that the United States was bound alike by interest and duty to protest 
against it. On the 20th he addressed a large company of ladies, in a 
speech of exquisite beauty and touching eloquence. On the 23d he left 
New York for Philadelphia, and passing through Baltimore, at both of 
which places he spent some days, he reached Washington on Tuesday, the 
30th, and was received at the cars by a committee of the United States 
Senate. President Fillmore received him at the Executive Mansion on 
Wednesday, the 31st, and during the week following he was formally re- 
ceived into both houses of Congress. On the 12th of January Kossuth 
left Washington for Annapolis, and proceeded thence westward to Cin- 
cinnati, visiting Pittsburg, Harrisburg, and other places on his way. 
Meanwhile public opinion became divided as to the propriety of acceding 
to his request that this country should take an active part in the struggle 
of Europe, but there was no difference of opinion as to the wonderful 
ability which his speeches displayed. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 357 

From Washington Kossuth proceeded to visit various places in the 
South and West, and at length, by invitation, visited Boston, where he 
had a public reception from the Legislature, and was honored by a legis- 
lative banquet in Faneuil Hall. His speeches continued to be devoted to 
an exposition of the duty of nations to aid each other in their struggles 
for freedom, and to urging the claims of Hungary upon the people of the 
United States. 

After visiting the principal towns of Massachusetts he had a public 
reception at Albany, whence he proceeded to Buffalo, Niagara and other 
cities. At length, returning to New York, he embarked for England. 

DEATH OF MR. CLAY. 

Henry Clay was born in Hanover County, Virginia, on the 12th of 
April, 1777. His death took place at Washington, D. C, on the 29th of 
June, 1852, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He was the son of John 
Clay, a Baptist clergyman, in indigent circumstances, who died when Henry 
was five years old, leaving seven children to the care of a most excellent 
mother, who ten years afterward again married and removed to Ken- 
tucky. Henry remained some years in Virginia, where he devoted him- 
self to the study of law under the distinguished Chancellor Wythe. On 
receiving a license to practice law in 1797, he removed from Richmond 
to Kentucky, where he opened an office. His first public station was 
that of representative in the State Legislature ; and while a member of 
that body he became involved in a duel with Humphrey Marshall, in 
which both combatants were slightly wounded. The quarrel between 
these two gentlemen grew out of a resolution introduced by Mr. Clay in 
which he proposed that each member should clothe himself entirely in 
American fabrics. 

HIS CAREER AT WASHINGTON. 

In 1809 Mr. Clay was elected to the United States Senate to fill a 
vacancy, to which body and for a similar purpose he had been elected in 
1806, serving in the latter case only a single session, and from 1809, but 
two sessions. In 181 1 he was elected for the first time to the House of 
Representatives, of which he was chosen speaker. He was a strong ad- 
vocate of the war with Great Britain, and to his influence with some few 
other master-spirits that measure was finally carried. In January, 18 13, 
he resigned his place in Congress in order to proceed to Europe as one 



35§ STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 

of five commissioners to negotiate a treaty of peace, meeting the British 
commissioners, first at Gottingen, and afterward at Ghent, where a treaty 
of peace was signed on the 18th of December, 1814. In September, 
1 81 5, Mr. Clay returned to the United States, when he found himself re- 
elected to Congress, of which, on its assembling in December, he was 
re-chosen speaker. In subsequent years he signalized himself by his 
earnest advocacy of protection, of home industry, national internal im- 
provements, the recognition of South American and Greek independ- 
ence, etc., etc. 

In 1824 he became a candidate for the Presidency of the United 
States, in connection with Adams, Jackson, Crawford and Calhoun. The 
election was finally carried to the House of Representatives, where the 
choice being confined to Messrs. Adams and Jackson, Mr. Clay decided 
to cast his influence in favor of Mr. Adams. This decision was deeply re- 
sented by the partisans of the disappointed candidates, who charged him 
for so doing with "bargain and corruption ;" especially as he accepted 
soon after at the hands of Mr. Adams the office of Secretary of State. 

In 1 83 1 Mr. Clay was again returned to the United States Senate, 
where he advocated internal improvements, the re-charter of the United 
States Bank, and a distribution among the States of the proceeds of 
sales of public lands for purposes of education and internal improve- 
ment. He was again a candidate for the Presidency against General 
Jackson, the latter of whom, however, proved to have in the sequel an 
overwhelming majority. 

In 1844 Mr. Clay was unanimously nominated for President by the 
Whig National Convention at Baltimore ; but on the occurrence of the 
election he was defeated by Mr. Polk, who received 170 of the electoral 
votes, Mr. Clay receiving but 105. 

In 1848 Mr. Clay was re-elected to the Senate by the Legislature of 
Kentucky by a vote nearly or quite unanimous. At the regular ses- 
sion in 1849 he took his seat. At this time, notwithstanding his advanced 
age, he was erect, buoyant and active, as in his more youthful days. His 
labors through that long and memorable session were unsurpassed, and 
his attempts to effect a compromise or adjustment of the question re- 
specting slavery in the Territories, the admission of California, etc., 
baffled at the outset, were ultimately crowned with success, as we have 
had occasion to record in a previous page. At the close of the Thirty- 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 359 

first Congress Mr. Clay returned to Kentucky in feeble health, but re- 
turned again to Washington in December. His health, however, was so 
broken and evidently failing, that he scarcely took his seat in the Senate 
at all, and was soon obliged to keep to his room, and ultimately, his 
bed. " Finally, after a protracted struggle between the native vigor of 
his constitution and the relentless progress of his disease," he finished 
his course, expressing toward the close of life, as he had often done 
during the period of his confinement, his hope of eternal life through 
Him who came to bring "life and immortality to light." He had for 
several years been a member of the Episcopal Church. 

DEATH OF MR. WEBSTER. 

Among the most signal events during Mr. Fillmore's administration 
was the death of Mr. Webster, some account of whom belongs to this 
place, especially concerning his connection at the time with the Govern' 
ment. 

The ancestors of Daniel Webster came originally from Scotland. 
His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were named Ebenezer, and 
were descendants of Thomas Webster, one of the earliest settlers of 
New Hampshire. His father was for several years a member of the 
Legislature of New Hampshire, and died while discharging the duty of 
judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was a man of superior intel- 
lect. His mother was Abigail Eastman, a lady of Welsh extraction, and 
distinguished for her powers of mind. She was the mother of five chil- 
dren, two boys, Daniel and Ezekiel, and three daughters. 

Daniel Webster was born on the 18th of January, 1782, in the town 
of Salisbury, Merrimack County, then Hillsboro, New Hampshire. The 
house where he was born is still standing, about two and a half miles 
from the beautiful Merrimack River, and in the immediate vicinity of a 
log cabin, which his father built, and the first ever erected in that sec- 
tion of country. 

HIS EARLY CAREER. 

Mr. Webster was first taught the letters of the alphabet by his 
mother, who treated him with partial kindness because of his feeble 
ness when a child. From her lips also he first received the vital truths 
of the Bible, and from her hands the first copy of the sacred volume 
he ever owned. The men who had the honor of the first teaching in a 



360 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 

public manner this afterward distinguished individual were Thomas 
Chase and James Tappan, the latter of whom died in 1852, at Glou- 
cester, Mass., at a very advanced age. As late as July of that year Mr. 
Webster remitted from Boston twenty dollars to his then aged and in- 
firm schoolmaster, accompanied by a letter in which he said, "I came to- 
day from the very spot in which you taught me, and to me a most 
delightful spot it is. The river and the hills are as beautiful as ever, but 
the graves of my father and mother, and brothers and sisters, and early 
friends, gave it to me something of the appearance of the city of the 
dead. But let us not repine." 

Mr. Webster's advantages of early education were exceedingly 
slender. In summer he worked on the farm, and in winter only went tc 
school. The principal district school that he attended was three miles 
from his father's residence, and his path thither was often through deep 
snow. When fourteen years old he spent a few months at Philips' 
Academy, Exeter, then under the care of Dr. Benjamin Abbots. While 
here he was first called upon to speak in public on the stage. But the 
effort was a failure. The moment he began he became embarrassed and 
burst into tears. In after years he said of himself: " Many a piece did 
I commit to memory and recite and rehearse in my own room, over and 
over again, yet when the day came, when the school collected to hear the 
declamations, when my name was called, and I saw all eyes turned to my 
seat, I could not raise myself from it." At fifteen he entered Dart- 
mouth College, where he pursued his studies in a manner highly credita- 
ble to himself and gratifying to his friends. He was graduated in 1801 ; 
but so disappointed was he in not receiving what he thought he was en- 
titled to of the honors of the college, that at the conclusion of the com- 
mencement exercises, he deliberately tore up the diploma which had been 
bestowed upon him, exclaiming as he threw it to the winds, " My indus- 
try may make a great man, but this miserable parchment cannot," and 
immediately mounting his horse, departed for home. 

IN PUBLIC LIFE. 

The following year he taught an academy at Freyburg, Maine, and 
then betook himself to the study of law, first in Salisbury and then in 
Boston, in the office of Christopher Gore, afterward Governor of Massa- 
chusetts ; was admitted to the bar in 1805; practiced a short time in 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 36 1 

Boscawen, N. H.; removing whence in 1807 to Portsmouth, he married 
next year Grace Fletcher, of Hopkinton, N. H., by whom he had four 
children, of whom but one, Fletcher, survived him. The mother died 
suddenly while on her way, with her husband, to Washington late in 
1828. 

Mr. Webster continued the practice of law in Portsmouth for nine 
years, where he acquired a very extensive practice and an enviable repu- 
tation. In 181 2 he was elected for the first time to Congress, after a 
most violent contest. In Congress he arose at once to a high rank 
among parliamentary debaters. He opposed the invasion of Canada, but 
strongly advocated the enlargement of the navy and the prosecution of 
the war on the ocean. In August, 1816, he removed to Boston, where 
in his practice as an advocate and lawyer he often came in contact with 
such men as Dextor, Prescott, Otis, Sullivan, Shaw, Gorham and Hub- 
bard. His fame as a jurist was greatly increased by his defence of Dart- 
mouth College against the assumptions of the Legislature of New Ham- 
shire, to alter and modify its charter at pleasure ; a claim which was sus- 
tained by the courts of New Hampshire, but overruled by the United 
States Supreme Court on Mr. Webster's argument in 181 8. 

" THE GREAT EXPOUNDER OF THE CONSTITUTION." 

In 1829 he delivered his famous speeches against Mr. Hayne on the 
right of a State to nullify an act of Congress. These were, perhaps, the 
greatest intellectual achievements of his life. They practically settled 
the question of nullification in all time to come. Mr. Webster continued 
a member of the Senate till March 4, 1841, and was a leading partici- 
pator in the discussions growing out of the attempted re-charter of the 
United States Bank, Tariff Compromise of 1834, the Removal of De- 
posits, the Specie Circular, the Expunging Resolutions, etc. From an 
original free-trader, he became a warm and impressive advocate of Pro- 
tection to Home Industry, regarding the policy of the country as settled 
by the acts of 1824 and 1828, and the interests thereby called into exist- 
ence justly entitled to legislative support. He therefore opposed the 
Tariff Compromise of 1834, which nevertheless prevailed. 

On the election of General Harrison to the Presidency, Mr. Webster 
became Secretary of State, a post which he continued to occupy until 
late in 1842. While Secretary he negotiated with Lord Ashburton the 



362 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

treaty of Washington, by which he settled the north-eastern boundary oi 
Maine. He now retired to private life for a season, but in 1845, on the 
retirement of Mr. Choate, he was again elected to the Senate. In 1846 
he advocated the Oregon boundary treaty ; in 1848 he spoke against the 
claim of the South to extend slavery into the new Territories. He was 
in favor of the compromise measures which were designed as an adjust- 
ment of exciting questions between the North and the South ; he be- 
lieved in the necessity and importance of the fugitive slave law as a 
means of maintaining the peace and integrity of the Union. 

In 1836 Mr. Webster was, for the first time, proposed as a candidate 
for the Presidency. Massachusetts gave him her electoral votes, but he 
received the votes of no other State. Again, in the year 1848, his name 
was submitted to the Whig National Convention at Philadelphia, as it was 
also in 1852 to the Whig National Convention at Baltimore. But in the 
former Convention his vote was less than thirty, and in the latter it did 
not exceed on any one ballot thirty-three. 

CLOSE @P HIS CAREER. 

On the accession of Mr. Fillmore to the Presidency in 1850, Mr. 
Webster was again called to the Secretaryship, an office which he con- 
tinued to hold till his death. 

In the summer of 1852, his health requiring relaxation and repose, 
he left Washington for his country residence at Marshfield, Mass., where 
soon after he was severely injured by being thrown from his carriage. 
From the effect of this fall he never recovered, but continued to decline 
until the 21st of October, when his state became alarmingly dangerous. 
His death occurred on the morning of the Sabbath, December 24th, a 
little before 3 o'clock. When informed that his death was rapidly ap- 
proaching, he bade each of his family and friends an affectionate farewell, 
and invoked upon them the richest of heaven's blessings. In a full and 
clear voice he then prayed fervently for all, concluding his prayer im- 
pressively as follows : " Heavenly Father ! forgive my sins and welcome 
me to Thyself through Jesus Christ." 

He died of disease of the liver. On a post-mortem examination 
the cerebral organ was found to exceed by 30 per cent, the average 
weight of the human brain ; and with but two exceptions, Cuvier and 
Duypuytren, the largest of which there is any record. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 363 

SUBMARINE BOATS. 

In 1847 Dr. Payerne, a Frenchman, commenced certain experiments 
with a diving machine, out of which eventually grew the design of a nav- 
igable submarine vessel driven by steam, patented in 1854. On the sur- 
face the steam could be generated by an ordinary boiler and furnace ; 
when submerged by a tubular boiler with an internal furnace, hermeti- 
cally closed, the principle of which has been adopted with modifications 
by succeeding inventors. The purification of the air was effected by a 
current of water allowed to run through a lower compartment, when a 
trap in the bottom was opened for external operations ; or by an alka- 
line mixture, composed of slaked lime and potash ; and also, if neces- 
sary, by prepared oxygen, thus affording a sufficient supply for three 
men for five hours. A lateral door gave exit to workers in diving 
armor for outside operations. 

From 1850 to the present year the number of patented designs 
for submarine boats, of which only a small percentage have ever been 
tried, has multiplied at an astonishing rate. Very few of them pre- 
sent any features of interest, practicability, or real novelty. In 1851 
Bauer, an ex-sergeant of the Bavarian artillery, built a boat for the 
Schleswig-Holsteiners with the idea of blowing up the Danish block- 
aders anchored of Sundeved, but a severe frost compelled the Danes 
to sheer off, and nipped his project in the bud. His boat was built 
of cast-iron plates, but these, as well as the pumping apparatus for 
admitting and forcing out the water, were not strong enough for the 
strain put on them. A pair of gutta-percha gauntlets fastened over 
arm-holes in the top of the boat afforded a clumsy means for the opera- 
tor to affix a torpedo, fired by a Voltaic battery to an enemy's ship. 
This crude piece of naval architecture was subsequently tried in Kiel 
harbor, and dived with great readiness to the bottom, where the pres- 
sure of the water started the plates, thereby nearly drowning the in- 
ventor and his two companions. ) 

During the progress of the Crimean War, the late Mr. Scott Russell 
designed a submarine boat, so-called, with the aid of which it was intended 
to blow up the obstructions at the mouth of Sevastopol Harbor. Lord 
Palmerston took much personal interest in the matter, and authorized a 
grant of £7000 from the Treasury for its construction and trials. The 
boat was called the " Nautilus," and did not commend itself to the com 



364 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

mittee of naval officers appointed to report on it. According to the late 
Admiral Sir Cooper Key, who was on the committee, it was merely a 
large diving-bell or inverted boat, and its behavior during the trials at 
Portsmouth was extremely uncanny. It never got so far as the Crimea, 
as the war was over before it was quite ready for service, and it ended 
its days harmlessly in the yard at Millwall. 

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY. 

We have now to record the auspicious date on which the possibility 
of sending telegraphic messages for any long distance under the sea was 
first firmly established. On August 28, 1850, telegrams passed between 
Dover and the coast of France through a make-shift cable, coated with 
gutta-percha ; and what had been held by nearly every one to be a wild 
dream became an accomplished fact. Of course there had been for many 
years previously scientific men ahead of their time who felt certain that 
it could be done. As far back as 1795 a Spanish engineer had suggested 
it. All through the first half of the century experiments had been going 
on. In 18 1 3 signals were transmitted through seven miles of wire laid 
down at the bottom of a pond. In 1838 a British royal engineer officer 
had some success with a cable insulated by means of tarred rope and 
yarn solidified with pitch. Split rattan canes were also used as insula- 
tors. Professor Wheatstone, who, with Mr. Cooke, had in 1837 fi rst 
introduced the land telegraph into England, had also been making trial 
of a submarine system. He had laid a cable in Swansea Bay and had 
succeeded in connecting the lightship with the shore. But all these 
attempts fell short of any wide practical result. Submarine telegraphy 
was not put into actual operation until the brothers Brett came upon the 
scene. 

THE BROTHERS BRETT. 

Jacob Brett was an electrician full of ideas. John Watkins Brett 
was a clear-headed, long-sighted man of business. In 1845 they were 
discussing the recently-established land telegraph between London and 
Slough. Why, they asked, should not similar communication be carried 
on under the sea ? They were not the sort of men to ask questions, 
and, like jesting Pilate, not wait for an answer. They set to work to 
prove that what they suggested could be done. In June, 1845, losing n o 
time, they registered a project for an Atlantic cable, and they also offered 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 365 

to connect Dublin Castle with Downing street if the British Government 
would advance ,£20,000. The British Government would have little to 
say to them. They did get leave to lay a submarine telegraph from 
Dover, if they could, but they obtained no pecuniary assistance. So 
they turned their attention to foreign States. In 1847 they received per- 
mission from King Louis Philippe to land a cable laid under the English 
Channel on the coast of France. Before they could mature their plans 
the revolution of 1848 had driven Louis Philippe from the throne, and it 
was necessary to obtain a concession from the republic. Prince Louis 
Napoleon, President of the republic, granted their concession ; and in 
June, 1850, it was transferred to a small company, consisting of Mr. J. 
W. Brett, Mr. (afterwards Sir) Charles Fox, Mr. Francis Edwards and 
Mr. Charles J. Wollaston, on the understanding that the cable should be 
laid down by September 1st of that year. Of these four pioneers, who 
each subscribed ^500 for the purpose of the experiment, Mr. Wollaston 
is still alive, hale and hearty in a green old age. He has not made a 
fortune out of his share in the plucky enterprise, but he enjoys a British 
Civil List pension granted in recognition of his services to electricity, 
and he can look back with a feeling of pride upon his close connection 
with so momentous an undertaking. For it was Mr. Wollaston who 
acted as the engineer to the company and actually directed the laying of 
the first cable. Part of his electrical talent he had inherited. He is the 
nephew of Wollaston, the famous philosopher, who introduced the 
Wollaston electro-chemical cell. He had also been a pupil of Brunei, 
who, by the way, refused altogether to believe in the feasibility of the 
submarine scheme. Meeting his pupil at the time when every one was 
ridiculing the idea, he said gravely, "I hear, Wollaston, you have some- 
thing to do with this. I'm sorry for it." And when his pupil inquired 
the reason for this discouraging address, the great man said, with 
emphasis: "It can't succeed, can't succeed." It is only fair, though, to 
add that, as soon as Wollaston had proved that it could succeed, Brunei 
congratulated him warmly, and. realizing at once what its success meant, 
declared that " nothing could stop it from going all over the world." 

THE FIRST CABLE. 

But to go back to June of 1850, as soon as the final concession had 
been made by President Louis Napoleon, Mr. Wollaston, who had gone 



366 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

to Paris to receive it, hurried back to England. Less than three months 
remained for all the preparations to be made. As soon as he touched 
British soil he telegraphed to the wire cable makers and to the gutta- 
percha company and arranged for the supply of the materials. Both 
undertook to deliver them in good time. The next thing was to devise 
some means of playing out the cable from a ship's deck. Mr. Wollaston 
for this purpose had made to his order a large drum or wheel. Upon 
this the twenty four miles of wire covered with gutta-percha were wound, 
and then it was placed in position upon the deck of the tug "Goliath." 
At last everything was ready. On the morning of August 28th the tug 
was at Dover. A coil of wire was twisted round a pile belonging to the 
harbor works (just where the Admiralty Pier now stands), and then 
carried up above to a horse-box, which the South-Eastern Railway Com- 
pany had lent the Submarine Cable Company to serve as their Dover 
office. The end securely fixed, the tug started off in a straight line for 
Cape Gris Nez. The cable, weighted with small pieces of lead to keep 
it down, was sunk without accident, and the other end was made fast in 
an old custom house that stood on the French cliffs. 

TRIUMPH AT LAST. 

Now came the moment of painful suspense which was to decide 
whether the promoters' pains and anxieties were to be rewarded. Con- 
sidering, in the light of our fuller knowledge, the imperfect insulation 
and the simple method of keeping the cable down and the strain that was 
put upon the unsupported gutta-percha wire, it seems a wonder that the 
experiment succeeded at all. But succeed it did, and proved that the 
promoters had, so far as they could, gone the right way to work. The 
instrument in the horse-box at Dover Railway Station clicked out a 
message to Louis Napoleon, congratulating him upon the happy result 
of the experiment. It was sent with misgiving, for the senders could 
not tell whether it would ever' reach the other side. Nervously and 
impatiently they waited, and then to their intense joy the needle moved 
again, and they knew that twenty-four miles away across the sea their 
message had been safely received. Their labors had borne fruit. They 
had done what very few believed they could do. The possibility of 
telegraphing under the sea was established; and, as "The London 
Times " said in a leading article a few mornings afterwards, " the jest or 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. $6? 

scheme of yesterday" had become "the fact of to-day;" "the wildest 
exaggeration of an Arabian tale" had been "outdone by the simple 
achievement of modern times." 

All the same, the "fact of to-day" early became in its turnthe "jest 
of to-morrow." The cable very soon refused to work, and on August 
31st its brief career was ended. A Boulogne fisherman picked up a 
piece of it in his trawl-net, and, making sure that it was some new kind 
of seaweed or coral, or a section of some marvelous sea-snake, he cut it 
open to see whether it had "gold at its centre." He was disappointed, but 
he carried off the strange object to Boulogne, and the life of the earliest 
submarine cable came to an inglorious end. However, the great thing 
was that the success of the experiment had been duly attested. Ten 
independent persons on the French side had signed a report to the effect 
that messages had passed to and fro, and this was sent to Louis Napo- 
leon. An unfair attempt was made to wrest the concession from the 
pioneer company on the ground that their cable was not permanent. 
Louis Napoleon, however, expressed both surprise and indignation at 
this endeavor to rob them of the fruits of their enterprise, and granted a 
fresh concession for permanent communication to be established by the 
end of October, 1851. To work this concession there was formed the 
Submarine Telegraph Company. They duly laid down a four-wire cable, 
with strong wire insulation, made on the same principle as that now in 
existence, and on November 13, 185 1, it was opened for public use. 

EXTENSION OF THE SYSTEM. 

The possibility of submarine communication having been proved, its 
extension was merely a matter of time. It was, however, a matter of a 
good deal of time. In 1853, after three failures, the connection that Mr. 
Brett had proposed eight years before was made between England and 
Ireland ; and in the same year the Dover-Ostend cable was laid and 
opened. In 1854 began the sinking of a series of cables in the Medi- 
terranean. These operations were much hindered by several untoward 
and alarming " flights of cable," that is to say, by the cable getting out of 
hand and running off the drums at a terrific speed. On one occasion 
two miles of cable, weighing sixteen tons, flew into the sea in the course 
of four or five minutes. It was not until 1856 that the Atlantic Telegraph 
Company was formed, and not until 1858 was communication established. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



Franklin Pierce Becomes President of the United States — Walker in 
Nicaragua — Anti-Slavery Power in Congress — Ostend Manifesto — 
Reciprocity with Canada — Squatter Sovereignty — Protests Against 
Extension of Slavery — The War in Kansas — Organizing the 
Kansas Government — Anti-Slavery Agitation — " Under- 
Ground Railroad" — The Sumner-Brooks Episode — 
Know-Nothing Party — The Republican P&.rty — 
The Koszta Incident — Perry in Japan. 



IN 1853 Mr. Fillmore was succeeded by Franklin Pierce, the Demo- 
cratic candidate, as President of the United States, who received 254 
electoral votes. General Winfield Scott, the Whig candidate, re- 
ceived 42 votes. President Pierce in his inaugural address, main- 
tained the recognition of slavery by the Constitution, and the constitu- 
tionality of the fugitive slave law ; and he denounced in strong terms 
political agitation on the subject of slavery ; yet public measures were 
soon adopted which tended greatly to increase this agitation. 

WALKER IN NICARAGUA. 

After the termination of the war between the United States and 
Mexico, several lawless military expeditions (commonly styled filibuster- 
ing expeditions) were made against Nicaragua, and some of the other 
countries of Central America. 

These expeditions were regarded with favor by many of the people 
of the Southern States, and pecuniary aid was furnished by some of their 
wealthy men. The pretended object was to rescue these countries from 
tyranny, domestic and foreign ; and it was also designed to introduce 
slavery. 

The most noted leader in these enterprises was William Walker, a 
native of Tennessee , and the most considerable of the expeditions was 
made in 1855 against Nicaragua. Walker made himself master of the 
country, and after holding it for some time, he was finally expelled by the 
union against him of the other States of Central America. In this expe- 
dition more than 3000 men miserably perished. 

368 




.' .... ' 




:£te . 3U 









1863— LINCOLN DELIVERING HIS FAMOUS ADDRESS AT GETTYSBURG 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 37 1 

In Walker's last expedition he landed near Truxillo, in Honduras, 
took the fort on the 6th of August, i860, and he was shot on the 12th 
of the following month. 

ANTI-SLAVERY POWER IN CONGRESS. 

At the assembling of the Thirty-fourth Congress on the 3d of De- 
cember, 1856. there was an unprecedented struggle for the choice of a 
speaker, which lasted till the 2d of February, nine weeks, and, after 133 
ballotings, resulted in the choice of Nathaniel P. Banks, the candidate of 
the Free State and Anti-Slavery men, who was elected by 103 votes, 100 
votes being cast for William Aiken. 

OSTEND MANIFESTO. 

In October, 1854, a conference was held at Ostend, at which Mr. 
Buchanan, American Minister to England, Mr. Mason, Minister to 
France, and Mr. Soule, Minister to Spain, were present ; and it was pro- 
posed by them to purchase the island of Cuba from Spain for $120,000,- 
000, and in case of her refusal to sell the island, to take it by force. 
This proposition was favored by the people of the Southern States, but 
was strongly disapproved by the people of the free States. 

RECIPROCITY WITH CANADA. 

Two important measures of this administration were the Reciprocity 
Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, providing for a 
commercial reciprocity between this country and the British-American 
Provinces ; and the establishment of a Court of Claims at Washington. 

SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY. 

In January, 1854, Mr. Douglas, Chairman of the Senate Committee 
on Territories, introduced a bill for the organization of the Territories of 
Kansas and Nebraska, in the country west of the State of Missouri, and 
north of the parallel of 36 30'. By the Missouri Compromise slavery 
had been formally and forever excluded from this region ; but by this 
bill, which was supported by the administration, the Missouri Compro- 
mise was repealed, and slavery was permitted to enter these territories. 

Mr. Douglas, who was a Senator from Illinois, and a man of unusual 

ability and fervent patriotism, had devised what he deemed was an effeo 
20 



372 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

tive scheme for settling the slavery controversy, so far as the territories 
were concerned. He proposed to apply to the territories the principle 
of local option, or home rule. Let the settlers of each territory, he 
said, decide for themselves whether they will have slavery or not. This 
scheme became popularly known as " squatter sovereignty," and the 
adoption of it led to a stampede of transient settlers into Kansas for 
the purpose of mustering votes upon the slavery question. The New 
England Abolitionists sent thousands of men thither, each carrying 
"a Bible and a rifle," and the slaveholders of Missouri also poured a 
vast tide of their retainers into the same territory. 

PROTESTS AGAINST EXTENSION OF SLAVERY. 

The introduction of this bill soon excited the strong opposition, 
throughout the free States, of those who were opposed to the furthei 
extension of slavery ; and in the month of March following, a memorial, 
protesting against its passage, signed by 3000 New England clergymen 
of different religious denominations, was presented to the Senate ; but it 
was passed by that body, on the 26th of May, by a vote of 35 to 12. 
It was passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 1 13 to 100. 

This measure caused a great excitement in the free States ; it was 
denounced as a flagrant breach of faith, and a violation of what was 
regarded as a sacred compromise ; and it led to a disastrous and san- 
guinary contest between those who advocated and those who opposed 
the establishment of slavery in these territories. 

This unhappy contest continued during the administration of Mr. 
Pierce and that of his successor, Mr. Buchanan. 

THE WAR IN KANSAS. 

Soon after the passage of this act large emigrations were made from 
the free States, with the design of making Kansas a free State. At the 
same time great efforts were made to establish it as a slave State by 
emigrants chiefly from the State of Missouri, many of them taking their 
slaves with them. A violent and sanguinary contest soon ensued 
between the advocates and the opponents of slavery ; and the grossest 
frauds were committed in several of the subsequent elections for the 
choice of public officers, and also for the choice of delegates for the 
formation of a constitution. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 3J 3 

Large bodies of armed men from Missouri, who have commonly 
been styled " Border Ruffians," formed into regiments, entered the 
territory in order to frustrate, by military force, the purpose of those 
emigrants who designed to establish Kansas as a free State, and a 
considerable number of lives were sacrificed in the conflict. 

ORGANIZING THE KANSAS GOVERNMENT. 

The first Governor of the territory was A. H. Reeder, of Pennsyl- 
vania, who arrived in October, 1854; and an election for a delegate to 
Congress was held in November, but a great part of the votes were cast 
by persons from Missouri, who were not residents of the territory, and 
a majority of the votes were found to be illegal. 

In March, 1855, an election was held for choosing members of the 
Territorial Legislature. It was found that, of 6218 votes cast, only 13 10 
were legal, and of these 791 were given for the free State candidates. 

Wilson Shannon, of Ohio, was appointed Governor in place of 
Reeder, and assumed office on the 1st of September. Delegates were 
chosen to a Constitutional Convention that assembled at Topeka, and, 
in November, promulgated a constitution, in which slavery was pro- 
hibited ; but the Topeka Constitution was never carried into effect. 

In August, 1856, Shannon was succeeded in office by John W. Geary, 
of Pennsylvania, who found the territory in a very disturbed condition, and 
after various conflicts and ineffectual endeavors to restore order, he 
demanded the removal of Lecompte, the District Judge of Kansas, for 
gross misdemeanor ; but Lecompte, being sustained by a majority of the 
United States Senate, Governor Geary resigned his office in March, 
1857, and Robert J. Walker, of Mississippi, was appointed in his place 
by Mr. Buchanan, who had now become President. 

ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION. 

Agitation against the slave system, and especially against the 
fugitive slave law of 1850, continued and steadily increased in vehe- 
mence, especially in New England. In 1854 a negro named Anthony 
Burns, who had escaped from slavery in Virginia, was arrested in Boston, 
and was confined in the court-house under a strong guard. Forthwith a 
meeting of citizens was held in Faneuil Hall to consider the question 
whether his return to bondage should be permitted. At the same time 



374 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

an attempt to rescue Burns was made by a party of citizens led by a 
clergyman, the Rev. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who afterwards 
commanded the first body of negro troops in the Civil War. The door 
of the court-house was broken down, and in the affray one of the deputy 
marshals guarding Burns was killed, but the attempt at rescue failed. 
Burns was afterward escorted by a strong military guard to a vessel and 
shipped back to Virginia. It was with difficulty that the people of Boston 
were restrained from violence and insurrection over this incident. 

A potent factor in this agitation was the famous book, " Uncle 
Tom's Cabin," published in 1852, and which now gained a phenomenal 
circulation. 

" UNDERGROUND RAILROAD." 

The opponents of slavery were not content with trying to prevent 
the enforcement of the fugitive slave law. They organized an elabo- 
rate system for nullifying it and for assisting fugitive slaves to make 
good their escape. Secret understandings were maintained among men 
in the cities and towns of the north, so that fugitives could be passed 
along from one to another, until the Canadian border line was reached, 
across which, of course, no slave hunter could follow. So perfect was 
this system, and so successful was it in forwarding a steady stream of 
runaway slaves, that it came to be known as "the underground railway." 

THE SUMNER-BROOKS EPISODE. 

Among the most conspicuous anti-slavery men in Congress was 
Charles Sumner, a Senator from Massachusetts. He was a man of com- 
manding ability, and was particularly aggressive and exasperating in his 
attacks upon the pro-slavery party. On May 19 and 20, 1856, he made 
a powerful speech on the troubles in Kansas, in the course of which he 
indulged in some personal strictures upon Senator Butler, of South 
Carolina. Two days afterward Preston Brooks, a nephew of Butler and 
a Representative in Congress, entered the Senate Chamber, stole up 
behind Sumner and struck him repeatedly over the head with a heavy 
cane, nearly killing him. For this act an attempt was made to have 
Brooks expelled from Congress, but it failed. Thereupon Brooks 
resigned and sought a vindication of his constituents. He was re-elected 
by a practically unanimous vote. Anson Burlingame, a friend of Sumner, 
challenged Brooks to fight a duel, but Brooks declined. 



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I865-ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 377 

KNOW-NOTHING PARTY. 

We must mention in passing the formation and career of the Know- 
Nothing - party. This had its origin a few years before this administra- 
tion, when the great influx of immigrants from Ireland began. It was 
feared by many that these foreigners would become a disturbing and 
mischievous factor in United States politics. Accordingly a movement 
was organized to exclude them from political office, and to secure the en- 
actment of laws making it less easy for them to become naturalized. 
This organization was made as a secret society, of the aims and acts of 
which the members professed to know nothing. Their organization was 
the nucleus from which arose the American party, which ir 1855 was 
sufficiently strong to carry the elections in nine States. 

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 

Meantime the old Whig party was rapidly disintegrating, and from 
its ruins was formed the new Republican party. This party opposed 
Douglas' principle of "squatter sovereignty" and insisted upon the 
maintenance of the Wilmot Proviso, and the exclusion of slavery from 
the Northern Territories. The Republican party held its first National 
Convention in 1856, and nominated as its candidate for the Presidency 
General John Charles Fremont, the explorer of the Rocky Moun- 
tains and conqueror of California. The Democrats nominated James 
Buchanan, one of the authors of the Ostend Manifesto, a North- 
ern man, but a friend of the South and of slavery, and stood upon the 
principle of " squatter sovereignty." The American party nominated 
Millard Fillmore. A vigorous campaign was prosecuted, which resulted 
in the election of Buchanan, who had 174 electoral votes. Fremont, 
however, had 114 votes, and an enormous popular vote which presaged 
success for the Republicans in the near future. Fillmore received 8 
electoral votes. 

Before leaving the Pierce Administration we must note the Gadsden 
purchase, by which a considerable strip of land south of New Mexico 
and Arizona was purchased from Mexico. In 1853, moreover, the Ha- 
waiian Islands made formal application to be annexed to the United 
States. The application was rejected, but the principle was established 
that those islands were within the American sphere of influence, and were 
not to be molested or annexed by any European power. 



378 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

THE KOSZTA INCIDENT. 

Pronounced American sympathy with the Hungarians, and the great 
popular and official greeting given in the United States to Kossuth had 
put something of a strain upon relations between the United States and 
Austria, and in 1854 this strain came perilously near the breaking point. 
One Martin Koszta, a Hungarian refugee, had filed in 1852 his declara- 
tion of intention to become a citizen of the United States. This was the 
first step toward naturalization, and according to American practice, en- 
titled him to American protection. In 1854 he had occasion to visit the 
port of Smyrna, in Asia Minor, on business. There, at the instigation 
of the Austrian Consul-General, he was seized by the crew of an Aus- 
trian warship that happened to be in the harbor, and was put into 
a cell, heavily ironed. This was done in spite of his claim of Amer- 
ican protection, and in spite of the fact that he had an American 
passport in his possession. The American authorities at Smyrna 
made demand for his release. This was refused by the Austrians. 
The captain of an American warship in the harbor, Captain Ingra- 
ham, thereupon gave the Austrians notice that if Koszta was not re- 
leased by a certain hour, he would use force for his release, and at the 
same time he ordered the decks of his ship to be cleared for action. The 
Austrians were at first defiant, but when they saw the American guns 
trained upon their ship, and realized what the firing of a shot would 
mean, they yielded. Koszta was surrendered by them to the French 
Consul-General, and shortly afterward was permitted to return to the 
United States. 

PERRY IN JAPAN. 

The story of the " opening" of Japan properly belongs to the his- 
tory of that island Empire. At this point, however, it is appropriate to 
recall that the memorable deed was performed in July, 1853, by Commo- 
dore Perry, of the United States navy. Without the firing of a shot he 
compelled the Japanese Government to abandon the seclusion of cen- 
turies, and to open its realm to friendly intercourse with the rest of 
the world. The United States made the first treaty with Japan on 
May 31, 1854. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



Marriage of Napoleon III — The Crimean War — Invasion of the Crimea— 

The Charge of the Light Brigade— Inkerman — Sufferings of the 

Troops — Ministerial Changes in England — Redan and Malakoff 

— Terms of Peace — Turkish Reforms — Revolution in 

Spain — British War with China — Opening of 

Japan — Minor Incidents. 



THE marriage of Louis Napoleon, or Napoleon III, as we must 
now call him, undoubtedly enhanced his popularity among the 
French. But something more was needed to establish his place 
securely among the hereditary sovereigns of Europe, and that was 
a great war in which he should be the ally of some other great powers. 
This want was soon supplied in the Crimean War. 

In 1852 an old dispute about the custody of the Holy Places in 
Jerusalem had been revived. Louis Napoleon, then President of the 
French Republic, had put himself forward as the champion of the Latin 
Christians, and obtained for them from the Porte the right of free entry 
to the Sepulchre, which had been contested by the Greek monks. The 
Czar Nicholas, as the head of the Greek Church, considered himself 
aggrieved by this decision. The weakness of Turkey seemed to offer a 
convenient opportunity for carrying out those aggressive designs which 
the Czar had never ceased to cherish, even when he joined England in 
supporting the Porte against Mehemet AH. The opposition of England 
might be bought off. In January, 1853, Nicholas disclosed his plans in 
two important interviews with Sir Hamilton Seymour, the English 
Ambassador. Without circumlocution he suggested that the two powers 
should divide between them the territories of the Sultan. The Danubian 
Principalities, Servia and Bulgaria, were to be formed into independent 
States under Russian protection ; England might annex Egypt, so im- 
portant for the route to India, and also Canada. " If England and myself 
can come to an understanding about this affair, I shall care very little 
what the others [i. e. France, Austria and Prussia) may think or do." 
Such was the Czar's boast. England declined the proposal, and excited 
the Czar's indignation by publishing Seymour's despatches. 

o79 



380 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

THE CRIMEAN WAR, 

In March Prince Menschikoft appeared in Constantinople, and arro 
gantly demanded from the Porte the recognition of a Russian protecto- 
rate over all Turkish subjects belonging to the Greek Church. Abdul 
Medjid replied by offering to secure the rights of the Greek Christians 
by charter, but refused to do so by treaty. Menschikoff withdrew after 
presenting an ultimatum, and the Russian army, under Gortschakoff, 
crossed the Pruth (July 3, 1853) to occupy Moldavia and Wallachia as 
a guarantee for the fulfilment of Russian demands. The Porte treated 
this as an act of hostility, and declared war against Russia (October 1st). 
Omar Pasha, a Servian renegade in the Turkish service, won a con- 
picuous victory at Oltenitza (November 4th). Napoleon III seized the 
opportunity to secure his recently established Empire by embarking in a 
great war and by obtaining the countenance and support of England. 
The two western powers concluded a treaty with the Porte (November 
27th), and promised their assistance if Russia would not accept peace 
on moderate terms. 

The destruction of the Turkish fleet at Sinope by Admiral Nakhimof 
destroyed the last chance of terminating the contest by diplomacy. The 
French and English fleets entered the Black Sea, and the Russian 
admiral had to retire to Sebastopol. 

In 1854 France and England declared war against Russia. Austria 
and Prussia remained neutral, but agreed to oppose the Russians if 
they attacked Austria or crossed the Balkans. The Czar found himself 
completely isolated in Europe, the result in great measure of the haughty 
attitude which he had assumed in recent years. By sea the allies had 
an overwhelming superiority, but it proved of little use to them. In the 
Black Sea they blockaded Odessa, but in the Baltic they found Cronstadt 
too strong to be attacked, and had to content themselves with the cap- 
ture of Bomarsund. It was obvious that Russia could only be seriously 
attacked by land. In April the Russians, under the veteran Paskiewitsch, 
had laid siege to Silistria, but all attempts to storm the fortress were 
foiled. 

In July the siege was raised, the Principalities were evacuated, 
and Austria undertook their occupation by a convention with the Porte. 
Meanwhile the French and English armies, under St. Arnaud and Lord 
Raglan, had landed at Gallipoli and proceeded to Varna. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 38 1 

INVASION OF THE CRIMEA. 

Finding the war in the Principalities settled without their interven- 
tion, the allies determined to transfer the scene of hostilities to the 
Crimea and to attack Sebastopol. They landed without opposition at 
Eupatoria (September 14th), and the battle of the Alma (September 20th) 
opened the way to the great fortress. A vigorous pursuit of the 
Russians might have taken Sebastopol at once, but the delay enabled 
Menschikoff to make elaborate preparations for defence. The siege 
lasted for more than twelve months, and absorbed the interested atten- 
tion of Europe. The allies suffered terribly from the severity of the 
climate and from the defective organization of the commissariat. At the 
same time they had to resist the constant efforts of the Russian field 
army to interrupt the siege operations. The first of these led to what is 
spoken of as the battle of Balaklava. It really consisted of a series of 
somewhat isolated cavalry operations by the Russians against the 
Balaklava end of the allied line, which was defended by British, French 
and Turks. The attack of the Russians effected nothing of importance ; 
but three incidents of the day will always be remembered with pride by 
the British army. Near Balaklava itself, the 93d Highlanders, under Sir 
Colin Campbell, were charged by a body of Russian cavalry, and repelled 
them in line by a volley without taking the trouble to form square. The 
next was the charge of the Heavy Brigade of cavalry under General 
Scarlett. In this Scarlett, with 300 horsemen, charged a body of halted 
Russian cavalry, numbering between two and three thousand men, and 
cut his way almost through it. Fortunately other regiments were brought 
up in support, and the whole Russian mass of cavalry broke up in 
disorder and fled from the field. 

THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE. 

Even this magnificent feat of arms was thrown into the shade by the 
romantic episode of the Light Cavalry charge. This arose out of a 
mistake. Lord Raglan, standing on the heights above the field, could 
see that the Russians were carrying off seven British guns which had 
been lent to the Turks, and lost by them, so he sent orders to Lord 
Lucan, who commanded the cavalry, to try and save the guns. Lord 
Lucan being on the plain, and not seeing as well as Lord Raglan, rather 
naturally asked, " What guns ? " Nolan, the Aide-de-Camp sent with 



3§2 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

the: message, said merely, but probably somewhat forcibly, "The enemy 
is there, and there are your guns." This Lucan understood to refer to 
a battery not of British, but of Russian guns, and he ordered Lord 
Cardigan, with the Light Brigade of 673 men, to charge these guns. 
Though to obey it seemed certain death, the order was obediently carried 
out. The guns to be charged were at the end of a valley two miles long, 
and on the slopes at each side of it, to right and to left, were Russian 
batteries. Nevertheless, as steadily as on parade, Lord Cardigan and 
his gallant followers rode ofl down the valley. For some moments the 
Russians were dumbfounded at their audacity, but soon a hundred guns 
were firing on the devoted horsemen. Nevertheless the brigade actually 
reached the Russian battery, and even passed it, but their efforts were 
perfectly useless, and, after suffering terribly, the survivors fought their way 
back as best they could. Two hundred and forty-seven men were killed 
or wounded, with a much larger number of horses. Had it not been for 
a well-directed charge of the French, who silenced the batteries at one 
side of the valley, a much larger number would have perished. "It is 
magnificent, but it is not a war," said a French looker-on from the height; 
and, from a military point of view, it was a gross blunder. Nevertheless, 
as teaching ;i permanent lesson of unquestioning devotion to duty, it 
cannot altogether be regretted ; and its memory will always remain a 
glorious heritage for the British army. 

INKERMAN. 

A few days later the infantry had its opportunity for distinction. On 
November 5th the Russians attempted an attack upon the opposite end 
of the allied line on the heights of Inkerman, occupied solely by British 
troops. According to their plan a sortie from Sebastopol was to assault 
the extreme end of the allied line, and at the same time a body of troops 
from Menschikofl's army was to assault the position in flank. The at- 
tack was made in the early morning, when the slopes were covered with 
mist. The natural way to repel such an attack was for the outlying 
pickets to fall back on the main body, and so concentrate on some defen- 
sible position ; but, partly through the mist, and partly through the un- 
willingness of the British to retreat at all, the battle took the form of the 
outlying positions being defended, and the pickets reinforced from the 
main body. Such a method of fighting was contrary to all rule, and u> 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 383 

irolved the greatest risk, for had the Russians broken through any point, 
the whole defence must have collapsed. Luckily for the British the mist 
stood them in good stead by preventing the Russians from seeing the 
exact state of affairs ; and the tenacity and courage with which all ranks 
fought were beyond praise. The loss, however, was most serious, and 
had it not been for the French, who moved up troops in sufficient num- 
bers to give an effective support to the scattered British regiments, it is 
difficult to see how the Russian masses could in the long run have been 
defeated by such a method of fighting. Nevertheless, victory declared 
for the 1* Hies, and had the French been willing to engage in a vigorous 
pursuit, the Russian defeat might have been converted into a rout. 

SUFFERINGS OF THE TROOPS. 

After the battle of Inkerman the Russians gave up for a time their 
operations in the open field, but their inaction gave little respite to the 
allied troops. The necessity for engaging in a prolonged siege had en- 
tirely altered the character of the campaign and compelled the allies to 
winter in the Crimea. For this they were totally unprepared. Losses 
by battle and sickness had reduced the strength of the British contingent 
to 1 6,ooo men, a number so small as to throw upon individuals a dispro- 
portionate amount of work, and reinforcements were slow in coming. 
The distance of the British camp from Balaklava, some ten miles, trav- 
ersed by a miserable road, made it hard to get supplies. In a terrible 
storm on the 14th of November, two vessels, one containing warm cloth- 
ing, the other ammunition, were sunk in Balaklava harbor. The winter 
proved to be exceptionally severe ; and it was hard for the troops, 
camped on a wind-swept plateau, or shivering in the wet trenches, to 
keep themselves warm. All these things would have tried the re- 
sources of any country ; and they proved far too severe for the British 
ministry of Lord Aberdeen. Forty years of peace seem to have been 
fatal to the efficiency of the British War Department. The most gro- 
tesque blunders were committed. A consignment of boots, all for the 
left foot, was sent out because the Ministers had provided no efficient 
way of checking the stores. No care was taken even to see that those 
who were to superintend the hospital knew their business. Medical 
stores were sent out in abundance, but men were allowed to die for want 
of them, because no official authority had been given for serving them 



384 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

out. No proper appliances for cooking- their rations were given to the 
soldiers ; and lastly, while sending out horses and mules for the trans- 
port service, the British Treasury refused to send out any hay on which to 
feed them. Moreover, the officers and men themselves did not show the re- 
sources they might have done in coping with the difficulties, and the con- 
dition of the army became pitiable in the extreme. It is true the French 
were nearly as bad off, but as there were more of them, work fell heavily 
on them as individuals ; and the French soldiers certainly showed more 
skill than the British in making themselves comfortable under difficulties. 

MINISTERIAL CHANGES IN ENGLAND. 

Doubtless there had been other campaigns where the British troops 
had had to bear similar hardships ; but in former days the exact state of 
the army was little known at home, except to the authorities. In the 
Russian campaign for the first time the special correspondents of news- 
papers, and especially Dr. William Russell, of the London "Times," 
kept the public thoroughly informed of what was going on. The natural 
result was an outburst of vehement indignation against the Govern- 
ment. Of this, Mr. Roebuck made himself the mouthpiece, and carried 
a proposal to the House of Commons that a commission should be 
appointed into the conduct of the war. The proposal was regarded as 
a vote of want of confidence in the Government. Lord Aberdeen at 
once resigned, and his place was taken by Palmerston. 

What the country really wanted was to have a strong man at the 
head of affairs. It had no confidence in Lord Aberdeen ; it did believe 
in Lord Palmerston ; and as soon as he was at the head of affairs, confi- 
dence was restored. Nevertheless the House was determined to have 
its commission of inquiry, and Mr. Gladstone and other Peelites, who 
had at first retained office under Lord Palmerston, decided to resign. 
The commission did much good ; and its report should be a warning to 
Governments for all time. Its inquiries showed distinctly that the mis- 
management complained of was to be traced, not so much to the faults 
of individuals, as to the absurd system by which Great Britain had allowed 
the machinery for making war to grow rusty and obsolete in time of 
peace, and also to the foolish arrangement by which sub-division of 
responsibility was carried so far as to make it almost impossible to say 
who was really to blame for any particular mistake or omission. Without 




BENJAMIN HARRISON 



1865— PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 




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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 3%J 

waiting for the report, however, Lord Palmerston's Government worked 
hard to improve the existing state of affairs. Even before the fall of Lord 
Aberdeen, Mr. Sidney Herbert had persuaded Miss Florence Nightingale 
to go out to Constantinople and see what could be done for the reorgan- 
ization of the nursing in the hospitals there ; and the Duke of Newcastle 
had suggested to the Cabinet the construction of a railway to bring stores 
from Balaklava to the camp. From Miss Nightingale's reports Lord 
Palmerston learned what should be done, and so energetic were the steps 
taken that, whereas under Lord Aberdeen the deaths in the hospital at 
Scutari had been 50 per cent, of those admitted, under Lord Palmerston 
they were enormously reduced. The railway also from Balaklava — the 
necessity for which should have been obvious to any Government — was 
at once made by the new ministers. Energy and order were infused 
everywhere ; and before summer the efficiency of the army in the Crimea 
had been restored, though at the best it was so small that henceforward 
the French took perforce the leading part in all military operations. They 
even took over from the British the north-eastern end of the trenches, 
and the attack on the Malakoff and Little Redan. In January, 1855, the 
allied forces were strengthened by the arrival of 18,000 Sardinian troops 
under La Marmora. 

REDAN AND MALAKOFF. 

The disasters of 1854 were a bitter humiliation to Nicholas, and prob- 
ably hastened his death, which occurred on March 3, 1855. His succes- 
sor, Alexander II, was more pacifically disposed, and it was hoped that 
his accession might lead to the conclusion of peace. But the military 
honor of the allies could only be satisfied by the capture of Sebastopol, 
and hostilities were soon renewed. The English fleet rendered conspic- 
uous service by destroying the Russian base of supplies, but the garrison, 
which was now commanded by Gortschakoff, held out with unflinching 
courage. A grand assault, in which the English attacked the Redan and 
the French the Malakoff, was repulsed with great loss (June 18). The 
French were now commanded by Pelissier, who had superseded Can- 
robert, the successor of St. Arnaud. On the death of Lord Raglan 
(June 28), General Simpson undertook the command of the English 
army. Although the two armies supported each other with creditable 
loyalty, there can be no doubt that the dual command was a great 
obstacle to the success of the besiegers. On August 16th a Russian at- 



388 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

tack was repulsed with great loss on the Tschernaya, a battle in which the 
Sardinian contingent distinguished itself. The allies had at last suc- 
ceeded in bringing a superior force of artillery to bear upon the fortress, 
and on the 1 7th the final bombardment was commenced. For twenty- 
three days the batteries kept up an almost incessant fire, which inflicted 
terrible damage. On September 8th a terrible assault was ordered. The 
French stormed the Malakoff, but the English, after carrying the Redan, 
were compelled to retreat for want of support. The Russian position, 
however, was no longer tenable, and on the 10th Gortschakoff evacuated 
Sebastopol and retired to the north side of the harbor. 

The success of the allies was by no means complete. The Russians 
still occupied a very strong position, and the war might have been indefi- 
nitely prolonged if the people had not begun to murmur at the heavy 
burdens imposed upon them. The fall of the Asiatic fortress of Kars 
(November 28, 1855) was a salve to the military vanity of Russia. Aus- 
tria undertook to mediate ; the basis of a pacification was agreed upon 
in January, 1856, and an armistice was concluded. A conference met at 
Paris, where the final treaty was signed on March 30th. 

TERMS OF PEACE. 

The Russian protectorate over the Danubian Principalities was 
abolished ; the free navigation of the Danube was to be secured by the ap- 
pointment of an international commission ; the Black Sea was neutralized, 
and all ships of war, including those of Turkey and Russia, were to be ex- 
cluded, except a small number of light vessels to protect the coasts ; the 
Sultan undertook to confirm the privileged of his Christian subjects, but the 
Powers agreed not to use this as a pretext for interfering with his domes- 
tic administration ; the convention of 1841 about the Straits was con- 
firmed ; and the Porte was to be admitted to all the advantages of public 
law and the European concert. Russia agreed to restore Kars and to 
retire from the Danube by ceding a strip of Bessarabia to Roumania, 
while the allied were to evacuate Sebastopol and all other conquests in 
the Crimea. These terms were accepted by six powers, viz. : France, 
Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia and Sardinia. A fortnight later 
France, Austria and Great Britain concluded a separate agreement to 
guarantee the independence and integrity of the Turkish Empire. In 
1858 the signatories of the treaty of Paris arranged a convention to settle 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 389 

the relations of Moldavia and Wallachia. They were to be ruled by sep- 
arate princes, who were to be chosen by the assembly of each principal- 
ity, and they were to pay a tribute to the Porte. But the two princi- 
palities elected the same prince, Alexander Cusa, and in 1659 the con- 
vention was modified to allow them to become one State under the 
name of Roumania. In 1866 Prince Alexander was deposed and Rou- 
mania fell under the rule of Prince Charles of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. 

TURKISH REFORMS. 

The Hatti Humayoun, or Imperial Proclamation of the Turkish 
Government, was issued on February 18, 1856. - This forbade in general 
terms all discriminations against Christians, or distinctions in civil affairs 
between the followers of the two religions, and it opened the military 
service of the Empire, even in the highest grades, to Christians. This 
latter provision was bitterly opposed by both Christians and Mohamme- 
dans, but was insisted upon by the Sultan. Despite this decree, however, 
the hostility of Turkey toward all foreign Christians steadily increased. 
Outbreaks occurred against the latter in various parts of the Empire, 
and it became evident that intervention would again be necessary. 

REVOLUTION IN SPAIN. 

The tortuous current of Spanish politics led to another revolution in 
July, 1854. In 1 85 1 the Government had signed an agreement with the 
Pope, by which all schools were placed under the control of the church, 
and all newspapers and other publications were subjected to priestly 
censorship. It was also proposed to make such amendments to the 
constitution as would annul the power of the Cortes and make the 
sovereign practically absolute. Against these things the army and the 
workingmen of the large cities combined in a successful revolution, and 
for two years Espartero and Marshal O'Donnell conducted the Govern- 
ment on a more liberal basis. Indeed, O'Donnell remained Prime 
Minister until 1863. 

BRITISH WAR WITH CHINA. 

Great Britain's second war with China was due to the overbearing 
policy of Lord Palmerston. France readily allied herself with Great 
Britain, and a joint expedition was sent to the Chinese coast, of which we 
shall hear more in a subsequent chapter. 



390 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

OPENING OF JAPAN. 

Down to the time of which we are writing- Japan had been practically 
a closed country, having little intercourse with other lands, and treating 
with savage inhospitality all foreigners who strove to enter the island 
Empire. The task of breaking down the barriers of seclusion was 
undertaken by the United States. On July 8, 1853, an American fleet 
of warships suddenly, without warning, appeared in the bay of Yeddo, 
and its commander, Commodore Perry, demanded to be placed in con- 
ference with the highest dignitaries of the Empire. A letter which he 
bore from the President to the Emperor was delivered. Then he sailed 
away, but returned the next spring for an answer to the letter. The 
answer was favorable, and on May 31, 1854, the first treaty between 
Japan and a foreign power was signed. Under its provisions the two 
ports of Shimoda and Hakodate were opened to American commerce, 
an American consul was permitted to reside at Shimoda, and Americans 
were allowed to enter and travel in the country to a certain extent. 
Similar treaties were soon made with other nations, and thus Japan was 
opened to friendly intercourse with the world. 

MINOR INCIDENTS. 

We may also note in passing the accession of Said Pasha as Khedive 
of Egypt, in succession to Abbas, in 1854, the establishment of the 
Orange River Free State in the same year, the British annexation of 
Oude in 1856, and the war between Persia and Great Britain, which 
began with Persia's invasion of Afghanistan in 1856, and ended in 
British success in the following year. In 1854 Russia continued her 
Central Asian aggressions by wresting a highly advantageous treaty from 
the Khan of Khiva, which made him practically a vassal of Russia. 




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CHAPTER XXX. 



Doctor Kane's Search for Franklin — The North-West Passage — New York 

Crystal Palace — Livingstone's Explorations — His First Work in 

Africa — Important Discoveries — Crossing the Continent — 

Victoria Falls — Niagara Suspension Bridge — 

Various Incidents. 



THE labors of Arctic research, to which we have already al 
were continued pretty persistently after the disastrous adventure 
of Sir John Franklin. Conspicuous among the expeditions which 
went to the North to seek tidings of Franklin were those sent out 
by Mr. Grinnell, a merchant of New York. The first of these was fitted 
out in 1850, in the ships " Advance " and " Rescue," under the command 
of Lieutenant De Haven. The surgeon and naturalist of this expedition 
was Elisha Kent Kane, a physician who had already had a romantic and 
distinguished career as a scientific explorer in various lands. The expe- 
dition was absent sixteen months, and found no trace of Franklin. On 
his return Dr. Kane wrote an interesting account of the expedition and 
also put forth his theory of an open Polar sea. At his earnest solici- 
tation a second expedition was fitted out by Mr. Grinnell, Mr. Peabody 
and others. It sailed in the ship "Advance" in June, 1853, an< ^ two 
months later reached Rensselaer Bay, on the coast of Greenland. There 
the ship was left, and the explorers proceeded with boats and sledges. 
During the first winter a latitude of 79 deg. 50 min. was reached, though 
at the cost of terrible suffering. During the second year the explorers 
stuck manfully to their work, despite famine and disease, and made scien- 
tific observations — magnetic, meteorological, astronomical and tidal — 
incomparably surpassing in completeness and value all that had gone 
before. Indeed, this was the first great scientific expedition. 

One of Dr. Kane's comrades, Mr. Morton, went up Kennedy 
Channel as far as latitude 8r deg. 22 min., and there saw what he and 
Kane firmly, though erroneously, believed to be the open Polar Sea. 
On May 17, 1855, the ship was abandoned and an overland retreat 
made to Upernavik, which place was reached in August. Dr. Kane 
2 i 393 



394 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

published an account of his expedition, in two volumes, which was down 
to that time the most interesting and important contribution made to 
Arctic literature. Dr. Kane, whose health was always fragile, died in 
1857, at the early age of thirty-seven, leaving a name that must always 
stand in the foremost rank of Arctic explorers. 

THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 

Meantime others were busy looking for the North-West passage which 
had lured Franklin to his fate. A British expedition led by McClure 
had spent the winter of 1850-51 at the Princess Royal Islands, only 
thirty miles from Barrow Strait. He ascended a hill whence he could see 
the frozen surface of Barrow Strait, which had been navigated by Parry 
thirty years before. Thus he discovered the North-West Passage, though 
he did not navigate it. It was impossible to reach it, for the palseocrystic 
ice which had baffled Franklin was before him, barring further progress 
of his ship. In 1851, therefore, McClure turned to the south, and made 
his way around Baring Island. The voyage was one of great difficulties 
and dangers. For a long distance they sailed along a narrow passage, with 
the rocky cliffs of the shore rising perpendicularly at one side, and the 
palseocrystic ice rose in a solid wall at the other side, as high as the ship's 
yards. A trip was made on land across Melville Land, and then, in the 
spring of 1853, McClure prepared to abandon his ship and beat a retreat 
in boats, but happily was reached by a relief party in time. 

The explorations of McClintock, Rae, Inglefield and others were 
conducted during the years 1853—59, and added much to the world's 
knowledge of the frozen realm of the far North. 

NEW YORK CRYSTAL PALACE. 

We have elsewhere spoken of the opening of the World's Fair in 
the Crystal Palace in New York City. This famous building stood on 
what is now known as Bryant Park, at Sixth avenue and 40th~42d streets. 
That locality was then suburban and semi-rural, though now in the 
heart of the city. An interesting indication of the growth of New York 
since that time is to be had in the fact that the newspapers of the day re- 
ferred to the "enormous throngs of people" who were present at the 
inaugural ceremonies of the Crystal Palace, adding that they must have 
numbered as many as 2000 souls i 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 395 

The first World's Fair in Paris was held in 1855, being gotten up by 
Louis Napoleon to strengthen the hold of his new Empire upon the affec- 
tions of the pleasure-loving people. 

LIVINGTONE'S EXPLORATIONS. 

While men were busy exploring the Arctic regions, one of the world's 
greatest explorers was busy in the lands under the equator. David 
Livingstone (181 3-1873), missionary and explorer, was born on March 
19, 181 3, at the village of Blantyre Works, in Lanarkshire, Scotland. 
David was the second child of his parents, Neil Livingston (for so he 
spelled his name, as did his son for many years) and Agnes Hunter. 
His parents were poor and self-respecting, typical examples of all that is 
best among the humbler families of Scotland. At the age of ten years 
David left the village school for the neighboring cotton mill, and by stren- 
uous efforts he qualified himself at the age of twenty-three to undertake 
a college curriculum. He attended for two sessions the medical and 
the Greek classes in Anderson's College, and also a theological class. 
In September, 1838, he went to London, and was accepted by the 
London Missionary Society as a candidate. During the next two years 
he resided mostly in London, diligently attending medical and science 
classes, and spending part of his time with the Rev. Mr. Cecil at Ongar in 
Essex, studying theology and learning to preach. He took his medical de- 
gree in the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow in November, 
1840. Livingstone had from the first set his heart on China, and it was 
a great disappointment to him that the Society finally decided to send 
him to Africa. To an exterior in these early years somewhat heavy and 
uncouth, he united a manner which, by universal testimony, was irresisti- 
bly winning, with a fund of genuine but simple humor and fun that 
would break out on the most unlikely occasions, and in after years enabled 
him to overcome difficulties and mellow refractory chiefs when all 
other methods failed. 

HIS FIRST WORK IN AFRICA. 

Livingstone sailed from England on December 8, 1840. From 
Algoa Bay he made direct for Kuruman, the mission station, 700 miles 
north, established by Hamilton and Moffat thirty years before, and 
there he arrived on July 31, 1841. The next two years Livingstone 



396 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 

spent in traveling about the country to the northwards in search of a 
suitable outpost for settlement. During these two years he had already 
become convinced that the success of the white missionary in a field like 
Africa is not to be reckoned by the tale of doubtful conversions he can 
send home each year. That the proper work for such men was that of 
pioneering, opening up and starting new ground, leaving native agents 
to work it out in detail. The whole of his subsequent career was a 
development of this idea. 

IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES. 

He selected the valley of Mabotsa, on one of the sources of the 
Limpopo River, 200 miles north-east of the Kuruman, as his first station. 
It was shortly after his settlement here that he was attacked by a lion, 
which crushed his left arm and nearly put an end to his career. The arm 
was imperfectly set, and it was a source of trouble to him at times 
throughout his life, and was the means of identifying his body after his 
death. To a house, mainly built by himself at Mabotsa, Livingstone in 
1844 brought home his wife, Mary Moffat, the daughter of Moffat, of 
Kuruman. Here he labored till 1846, when he removed to Chonuane, 
40 miles further north, the chief place of the Bakwaim tribe under 
Sechele. In 1847 ne a g a i n removed to Kolobeng, about 40 miles west- 
ward, the whole tribe following their missionary. With the help of and 
in the company of two English sportsmen, Mr. Oswell and Mr. Murray, 
he was able to undertake a journey of great importance to Lake Ngami, 
which had never yet been seen by a white man. Crossing the Kalahari 
Desert, of which Livingstone gave the first detailed account, they reached 
the lake August 1, 1849. In April of the next year he made an attempt 
to reach Sebituane, who lived 200 miles beyond the lake, this time in 
company with his wife and children, but again got no further than the 
lake, as the children were seized with fever. A year later, April, 1851, 
Livingstone, again accompanied by his family and Mr. Oswell, set out 
this time with the intention of settling among the Makololo for a period. 
At last he succeeded, and reached the Chobe, a southern tributary of the 
Zambesi, and in the end of June discovered the Zambesi itself at the 
town of Sesheke. Leaving the Chobe on August 13th the party reached 
Capetown in April, 1852. Livingstone may now be said to have com 
pleted the first period of his career in Africa, the period in which the 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



397 



work of the missionary had the greatest prominence. Henceforth he 
appears more in the character of an explorer, but it must be remem- 
bered that he regarded himself to the last as a pioneer missionary, whose 
work was to open up the country to others. 

CROSSING THE CONTINENT. 

Having, with a sad heart, seen his family off to England, Livingstone 
left the Cape on June 8, 1852, and reached Linyanti, the capital of the 
Makololo, on the Chobe, on May 23, 1853, received in royal style by 
Sekeletu, and welcomed by all the people. His first object in this jour- 
ney was to seek for some healthy, high land in which to plant a station. 
Ascending the Zambesi he, however, found no place free from the de- 
structive tsetse insect, and therefore resolved to discover a route to the 
interior from either the west or east coast. To accompany Livingstone 
in his hazardous undertaking twenty-seven men were selected from the 
various tribes under Sekeletu, partly with a view to open up a trade route 
between their own country and the coast. The start was made from 
Linyanti on November 11, 1853, and by ascending the Leeba, Lake 
Dilolo was reached on February 20, 1854. On April 4th the Congo was 
crossed, and on May 31st the town of Loanda was entered, much to the 
joy of the men ; their leader, however, being all but dead from fever, 
semi-starvation and dysentery. Livingstone speaks in the warmest 
terms of the generosity of the Portuguese merchants and officials. 
From Loanda Livingstone sent his astronomical observations to Maclear 
at the Cape, and an account of his journey to the Royal Geographical 
Society, which in May, 1855, awarded him its highest honor, its gold 
medal. Loanda was left on September 20, 1854, but Livingstone 
lingered along about the Portuguese settlements. Making a slight de- 
tour to the north to Cabango, the party reached Lake Dilolo on June 
13th. Here Livingstone made a careful study of the watershed of the 
country in what is, perhaps, the most complicated river system in the 
world. He " now for the first time apprehended the true form of the 
river systems and the continent," and the conclusions he came to have 
been essentially confirmed. 

VICTORIA FALLS. 

For Livingtone's purposes the route to the west was unavailable, 
and he decided to follow the Zambesi to its mouth. With a numerous 



39^ STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

following he left Linyanti on November 8, 1855. A fortnight afterwards 
he made the great discovery with which, in popular imagination, his name 
is more intimately associated than with anything else he did — the famous 
"Victoria" Falls of the Zambesi, which, after a second examination in 
his subsequent journey, he concluded to be due to an immense fissure or 
fault right across the bed of the river, which was one means of draining 
off the waters of the great lake that he supposed must have at one time 
occupied the centre of the continent. He had already formed a true idea 
of the configuration of the continent as a great hollow or basin-shaped 
plateau, surrounded by a ring of mountains. Livingstone reached the 
Portuguese settlement of Tette on March 2, 1856, in a very emaciated 
condition, and after six weeks left his men well cared for and proceeded 
to Kilimane, where he arrived on May 20, thus having completed, in two 
years and six months, one of the most remarkable and fruitful journeys 
on record. The results in geography and in natural science in all its 
departments were abundant and accurate ; his observations necessitated 
a reconstruction of the map of central Africa. Men of the highest emi- 
nence in all departments of science testified to the highest value of 
Livingstone's work. When Livingstone began his work in Africa it was 
virtually a blank from Kuruman to Timbuctoo. 

On December 12th he arrived in England, after an absence of six- 
teen years, and met everywhere with the welcome of a hero. He told 
his story in his " Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa" 
(1857) with straightforward simplicity, and with no effort after literary 
style. Its publication brought what he would have considered a com- 
petency had he felt himself at liberty to settle down for life. In 1857 
he severed his connection with the London Missionary Society, with whom, 
however, he always remained on the best of terms, and in February, 
1858, he accepted the appointment of " Her Majesty's Consul at Kilimane 
for the eastern coast and the independent districts in the interior, and 
commander of an expedition for exploring eastern and central Africa." 

NIAGARA SUSPENSION BRIDGE. 

The year 1854 was made notable in the annals of engineering by the 
construction of the suspension bridge across the Niagara River. This 
lorm of bridge was of American origin, the first having been built in 1801 
over Jacob's Creek, near Greensburg, Pennsylvania. It had a span of 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 399 

70 feet, and was suspended by chains. Others were soon built oflonger 
span. One over the Schuylkill River, in 1808, had a span of 306 feet, 
but was partly supported by an intermediate pier. The next year one 
was built at Newburyport, Mass., with a clear span of 240 feet, and in 
181 5 one in Allentown, Pa., had two spans of 230 feet each. All these 
were made of chains. The first wire cable suspension bridge was built 
in 18 16 across the Schuylkill River, at Philadelphia, with a span of 408 
feet. In 1846 Charles Ellet built the Monongahela bridge at Pittsburg, 
Pa., with eight spans of 188 feet each, and declared it to be his conviction 
that a span of 1 500 feet was practicable, and could be made safe for rail- 
road trains — a prediction which has since been splendidly vindicated. In 
1 848 he built the great bridge at Wheeling, over the Ohio River, with a 
span of 1 010 feet, the longest in the world at that time. It was supported 
by twelve cables, with a total of 6600 wires. This bridge was blown 
down by a storm in 1854, nearly all the cables breaking at the 
anchorage. 

The year that saw the fall of the Wheeling bridge saw, however, the 
completion of that at Niagara. This latter was built by John A. Roebling, 
on a new plan devised by himself, which has since been universally used. 
Thus this bridge was the true prototype of all that have been built since, 
and Roebling may be esteemed the founder of the system. The Niagara 
Bridge was built with a span of 821 feet, with two roadways, one above 
the other, each fifteen feet wide, one for railroad trains and one for 
ordinary traffic. 

VARIOUS INCIDENTS. 

We must note briefly in passing the annexation of New Caledonia 
by France, for use as a penal colony, in 1853 ; the promulgation of the 
Papal doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in 1854; the opening of 
the railway across the Isthmus of Panama, and the death of Mickiewicz, 
the Polish poet, in 1855 ; and the death of Heine, the poet, Sir William 
Hamilton, the philosopher, and Delaroche, the painter, in 1856. 

One of the chief literary incidents of these years was the publication 
of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery story, "Uncle Tom's 
Cabin," which, written and first printed in 1852, by 1856 was circulated 
to the extent of more than 500,000 copies in the United States alone, 
and was translated into more than twenty-five European and Asiatic 
languages. 



CHAPTER XXXL 



James Buchanan becomes President of the United States — Troubles in 

Kansas — John Brown at Harper's Ferry — The Dred-Scott Decision — 

Lincoln and Douglas — Lincoln Elected President — Secession — 

Attitude of the Washington Government — Incidents 

of the Administration. 



IN 1857 Franklin Pierce was succeeded as President of the United 
States by James Buchanan, the Democratic candidate, who received 
174 electoral votes. John C. Fremont, the Republican candidate, 
received 1 1 4 electoral votes. 
The two great political parties into which the people of the United 
States had, for a considerable number of years, been divided, were the 
Democratic and the Whig parties ; but after the repeal by Congress of 
the Missouri Compromise, a party styled the Republican party, was 
formed, composed chiefly of those citizens who had before belonged to 
the Whig party. The leading principle of this new party was opposition 
to the further extension of slavery into free territory ; yet it maintained 
that Congress had no right to interfere with slavery as it existed in the 
slave States. 

The subject of slavery continued unhappily to disturb the peace of 
the country during Mr. Buchanan's administration, as it had done during 
that of Mr. Pierce ; and his administration was noted for the continuation 
of the troubles in Kansas, for the raid of John Brown in Virginia, and, 
towards its close, for the manoeuvres and preparations for the great 
rebellion which soon followed. Three of the members of his Cabinet, 
Cobb, Thompson and Floyd, ultimately took an active and prominent 
part in the secession of the slave States, and much was done by them, 
while in office, to aid it, especially by Floyd, the Secretary of War, by 
sending the United States arms and munitions of war to the Southern 

States. 

400 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 4OI 

TROUBLES IN KANSAS. 

We have already told of the beginning of the struggle for the con- 
trol of Kansas. In June, 1857, tne delegates to another convention for 
forming a State Constitution were elected, but the free State men, feel- 
ing that they had no security for a fair election, generally took no part 
in it. This convention met at Lecompton and formed a constitution, in 
which slavery was established. The promulgation of this constitution 
caused great excitement. It was strongly condemned by Governor 
Walker, who proceeded immediately to Washington to remonstrate 
against its adoption, but, before his arrival, it had been adopted by Con- 
gress and received the approval of the President. Governor Walker 
soon after resigned his office, and James W. Denver, of California, was 
appointed in his place. 

The Lecompton Constitution, when submitted to the people in 1858, 
was rejected by a majority of upwards of 10,000 votes. Soon after this 
rejection Denver resigned his office, and Samuel Medary, of Ohio, was 
appointed Governor. 

Delegates to another Constitutional Convention were elected, who 
met in July, 1859, at Wyandotte, and formed a constitution, in which 
slavery was prohibited. This constitution was ratified by the people by 
about 4000 majority. A State election was held under it on the 6th of 
December, 1859, and Charles Robinson was elected Governor. 

Kansas, after a long, calamitous and sanguinary conflict, in which 
the grossest frauds were committed, and the vilest passions exhibited, 
was finally admitted by Congress into the Union in January, 1861, as a 
free State. 

JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY. 

A prominent leader of the free soil party in Kansas was John Brown, 
of Ossawatomie. He took a conspicuous part in the civil war in that 
territory, and one of his sons, who was captured by the enemy, was 
cruelly tortured into insanity. Brown, who was an intensely religious 
man, thereupon conceived the idea that he was chosen by God to lead a 
campaign against the slave power on its own ground. Accordingly, on 
October 16, 1859, he with fifteen white men, two of them his sons, and 
five men of color, made an invasion into the State of Virginia with the 
avowed object of freeing the slaves, took possession of the United States 
Arsenal at Harper's Ferry and a considerable part of the town, and 



402 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

seized and held some of the citizens as hostages. Four of the inhabitants 
were killed in the conflict. 

A great panic was soon raised in the neighborhood, and in a great 
part of the State of Virginia ; and the next day some of the federal troops 
and of the Virginia militia arrived, and 1500 armed men were on the 
ground to suppress the insurrection. 

Brown and his men, with the hostages, took refuge in the armory 
buildings, which were seized by the troops ; twelve of the invaders were 
killed, Brown and four of his men were taken prisoners, and two of them 
escaped, but they were afterwards captured. Brown and the six other 
prisoners were brought to trial and were hanged. 

THE DRED-SCOTT DECISION. 

One of the most important political incidents of the Buchanan 
administration, and one which had an unspeakably important effect upon 
the slavery question, was what is known as the Dred-Scott case. Dred 
Scott was a negro and a slave. His master was an army surgeon, whose 
home was in the State of Missouri. This master took Dred Scott in 
1834 into the free State of Illinois, and lived there four years, keeping 
the slave with him. From Illinois he went into the Minnesota territory, 
which was not yet a State, but in which slavery was forbidden by the Act 
of Congress known as the Missouri Compromise, which we have hitherto 
explained. After some residence in Minnesota, master and slave returned 
to Missouri. Not long after this return Dred Scott received a flogging, 
such as slaves at that time frequently received. Thereupon he brought 
action for damages for what he claimed was assault and battery. He 
claimed that as slavery was illegal in Illinois and Minnesota he could not 
legally have been a slave while he was living there, and that as he had 
become a free man in Illinois and Minnesota he must have returned to 
Missouri a free man. 

This case was begun in a small local court, and was carried, on 
appeal, from one court to another. In one case judgment was rendered 
in Dred Scott's favor. Finally the case reached the Supreme Court of 
the United States, and was there carefully considered. Before that court 
it was merely a question of jurisdiction. In 1857 the judgment of the 
Supreme Court was finally given by Roger B. Taney, the venerable Chief 
Justice. This decision, which has become historic, was against the claims 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



403 



of Dred Scott. It was, in brief, to the effect that he was not a citizen 
within the meaning of the Constitution of the United States ; that he had 
no standing in court, and was not entitled to bring a suit at law ; that the 
Act of Congress known as the Missouri Compromise was unconstitu- 
tional, and therefore null and void ; that Dred Scott was not a citizen of 
Missouri, but a mere chattel, and that slave-owners could take their 
slaves with them into free States, or wherever they pleased, without 
moving title to them, just as they could take their horses, their dogs and 
the money in their pockets. The decision further stated that the Consti- 
tution of the United States had been framed by men who acted upon the 
theory that "the black man had no rights that the white man was bound 
to respect." 

While this decision was doubtless given with all possible sincerity 
and judicial honesty, it was evidently strongly in favor of the slave power 
at the South. Its practical effect would in time have been to abolish all 
distinctions of free States and slave States, and to make the entire United 
States a slave country. It greatly encouraged the slave party at the 
South to assume a bolder and more defiant attitude and to revive, with 
scarcely the slightest attempt at concealment, the importation of negro 
slaves from Africa, which had been forbidden by Act of Congress since 
1808 in accordance with the express understanding made at the time of 
the adoption of the Constitution. During Buchanan's administration the 
Government made little effort to check this illegal traffic. At the same 
time the Dred Scott decision aroused the anti-slavery sentiment of the 
North as it had never been aroused before in opposition to the slave 
power. 

LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS. 

A local campaign in the State of Illinois in 1858 now demands out 
attention, Stephen A. Douglas, the author of the " Squatter Sovereignty" 
scheme, was in that year a candidate for re election to the United States 
Senate as the candidate of the Democratic party. The candidate of the 
newly-formed Republican party, in opposition to him, was Abraham 
Lincoln. The latter, probably the most noteworthy figure in the history 
of the United States, was of Virginian ancestry, and was born in Ken- 
tucky on February 12, 1809. His parents were wretchedly poor and 
ignorant, and belonged to the class which is contemptuously referred to 
as the " poor white trash." As a boy Lincoln had practically no school 



404 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

ing, but was brought up to work hard. He served as a common laborer 
on a flatboat, then as clerk and storekeeper in a country village in 
Illinois, then as postmaster, then as a surveyor, and finally was admitted 
to the bar and began practice as a lawyer. From this record it will be 
inferred that he succeeded in educating himself. He did so, studying 
such books as he could get at night by the light of a log fire. In this 
way he succeeded in gaining an excellent English education, and made 
himself one of the most perfect masters of English speech and English 
literary and oratorical style the world has ever known. He had a natural 
gift of droll and irresistible humor and a rare vein of tender-hearted 
human sympathy. The shrewdness of political tactics and leadership 
seemed to come to him as a natural gift. In both legal and political 
debate he has never had a superior in American history. He was, 
withal, conspicuously unselfish and absolutely honest, so that he com- 
manded the affection and confidence of the people in a rare degree. 

At the time of the campaign of 1858 he had served in the Illinois 
Legislature for several terms, and also for a short time in Congress. In 
1858 he challenged Douglas to the then common political practice of a 
joint debate. The two men travelled over the State, making speeches 
and discussing the political issues of the day together, from the same 
platform and before the same audience. It was the general verdict of the 
public that Lincoln won the honors of the debate. He succeeded in fore 
ing Douglas to commit himself with positive declarations of opinion upon 
the Dred-Scott case and other phases of the conflict between the slave 
power and the free States. As Douglas was a candidate for Senator in 
the free State of Illinois, and, as he was, moreover, at heart opposed to 
slavery, his declarations on these subjects were in favor of freedom and 
against the extension of slavery. The result of the campaign was that 
Douglas was re-elected to the United States Senate, and was made more 
popular than ever with that portion of the Democratic party in the North 
which was opposed to the extension of the slave power ; that Douglas 
was at the same time made so offensive to the slaveholders of the South 
as to render it impossible for them to support him as a candidate for the 
Presidency of the United States, which he expected to be, and as a mat- 
ter of fact was, two years later ; and finally, that Abraham Lincoln was 
brought into national prominence and made the logical candidate of the 
Republican party for the Presidency in i860. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. aqc 

LINCOLN ELECTED PRESIDENT. 

In i860 the sixteenth President of the United States was elected. 
Previous to his election the country was convulsed by fierce party conten- 
tions. The two principal parties into which the country was divided 
were the Democratic and the Republican, and slavery was the great cause 
of strife. 

The Democratic party, which was strongly supported in the slave 
States, and which had long had the ascendancy in the country, being un- 
able to unite on a candidate for the Presidency, was divided into two sec- 
tions. The Southern section, which was the most strenuous to promote 
the interests of slavery, took John C. Breckenridge for its candidate ; the 
other section took Stephen A. Douglas ; the candidate of the Republican 
party was Abraham Lincoln, and the candidate of a fourth party, styled 
the Union party, was John Bell. 

The election, which was conducted without violence, took place on 
the 6th of November, i860, and resulted in the choice of Abraham 
Lincoln, who received 180 electoral votes; Breckenridge had 72; Bell, 
39, and Douglas 12. 

SECESSION 

Lincoln had made it perfectly plain during the campaign which re- 
sulted in his election that he would not interfere with slavery in the 
Southern States, but would merely resist its extension into the free States 
and Territories. Nevertheless the leaders of the slavery party affected 
to regard his election as a direct menace to the institution of slavery and 
to the autonomy of the Southern States. As soon, therefore, as the re- 
sult of the election was known, the Senators from South Carolina and all 
Federal officeholders from that State resigned their places. In the follow- 
ing month, December, 1 860, a convention was held in South Carolina which 
adopted resolutions declaring and announcing the secession of that State 
from the Union. This example was promptly followed by most of the 
other slave States, and long before the end of Buchanan's administration, 
indeed before the end of January, 1 861, the States of Georgia, Alabama, 
Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas had also adopted ordinances 
of secession. In February, 1 861, delegates from these States met at 
Montgomery, Ala., and organized a government which they called that of 
the Confederate States of America. They adopted a constitution, of 
which the bulk was simply a copy of the constitution of the United States, 



406 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

but introduced into it articles recognizing and legalizing slavery and for- 
bidding the enactment of a protective tariff. They elected Jefiferson 
Davis, who had been a United States Senator from Mississippi, President 
of the Confederate States, and Alexander Hamilton Stephens, of 
Georgia, Vice-President Some of the first acts of this new government 
was to seize the United States forts and arsenals throughout the South 
wherever they could. Some of these were voluntarily surrendered to 
them. Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, S. C„ and a few others, 
refused to surrender or to recognize the authority of the new govern- 
ment. Thereupon the civil and military authorities of South Carolina 
began preparations for the forcible capture or reduction of Fort Sumter. 

ATTITUDE OF THE WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT. 

The attitude of President Buchanan's administration towards these 
doings of the Southern States was marked with weakness and hesitancy. 
Mr. Buchanan greatly deplored the secession of the States, but he held, 
according to his interpretation of the Constitution, that he had no power 
to coerce a sovereign State, and therefore could do nothing to prevent 
secession. Several members of his Cabinet openly sympathized with the 
secessionists and aided them with gifts of arms, munitions of war, etc., 
belonging to the United States. 

During the winter Congress was busy discussing various plans of 
compromise. The most conspicuous was put forward by John J. Critten- 
den, a Senator from Kentucky and a man of high ability and lofty char- 
acter. He proposed an amendment to the Constitution of the United 
States by which the Missouri Compromise line was to be prolonged to 
the Pacific Ocean ; slavery was to be prohibited north of that line, and 
Congress was to be expressly forbidden to meddle with slavery south of 
that line, and the Federal Government was to pay full market value for 
all fugitive slaves rescued from Federal officers after arrest. This plan, 
known as the Crittenden Compromise, gained wide popularity at the 
North, but ultimately failed of adoption. 

The State of Virginia was at this time opposed to secession and 
earnestly sought to avoid war. At the request of its Government a 
peace conference assembled at Washington in February, 1861. The 
chairman of this conference was John Tyler, ex-President of the United 
States, and delegates were present from fourteen free States and from 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 407 

seven slave States, to wit. : Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Ken 
tucky, Missouri, Maryland and Delaware. The States which had seceded 
were not represented. As a result of its mature deliberations this con- 
ference recommended that Congress should make various concessions to 
the slaveholders. All of these recommendations were rejected by Con 
gress, and instead of them, a constitutional amendment was adopted by 
Congress, which had been offered by Senator Douglas, and which guar- 
anteed that Congress should never interfere with slavery in the States. 
This amendment was, however, never adopted by the necessary number 
of States by popular vote, but practically fell out of sight and was for- 
gotten after the outbreak of the Civil War. 

INCIDENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 

During the administration of James Buchanan the United States was 
visited with one of the most disastrous financial panics ever known in its 
history. This occurred in 1857 an< ^ lasted for several years. Banks 
suspended everywhere, and thousands of business men and firms were 
driven into bankruptcy. At the same time the Treasury of the United 
States was depleted and the credit of the Government fell to so low a 
point that money for public purposes was borrowed with great difficulty, 
and then only by selling Government bonds at a considerable discount 
below their par value. 

The Mormon colony at Great Salt Lake, Utah, was founded osten- 
sibly as a religious organization. As it grew in strength, however, it as- 
sumed civil independence, and defied the authority of the United States 
Government. The result was a serious rebellion, which was only quelled 
by the United States army after considerable bloodshed. 

The Federal Union was enlarged during these years by the admis- 
sion of Minnesota and Oregon as free States. After all her troubles, 
including a civil war in which thousands of lives were lost, Kansas also 
was admitted to the Union as a free State. 

Buchanan's administration ended with the most gloomy outlook the 
Republic had known during the century. The Government was almost 
bankrupt, business was prostrated, and the country was upon the verge 
of civil war. 



CHAPTER XXXIL 



End of British War with Persia — Origin of the Mutiny — The Greased 

Cartridges — Outbreak at Meerut — Cawnpore and Lucknow — Supres- 

sion of the Mutiny — End of the East India Company — British and 

French in China — Moving on Peking — Fall of Peking — The 

Rise of Sardinia— Attempt to Kill Napoleon II — War with 

Austria — Magenta and Solferino — Peace of Villa- 

franca — Union of Northern Italy — Savoy and 

Nice — Garibaldi Liberates Naples and Sicily 

— Defeat of the Papal Army — Victor 

Emanuel King of Italy — Interests 

of Various Lands. 



THE British war with Persia, of which we have spoken in a former 
chapter, was of brief duration. It ended in 1857, just in time to 
give place to another war of great magnitude and of most painful 
details. This was the Sepoy mutiny in India, which grew out of 
the arbitrary and unsympathetic rule of Lord Dalhousie, the British 
Governor-General of India. 

The annexation of the Punjaub was carried out by Lord Dalhousie, 
who as Governor-General did more to extend the limits of British terri- 
tory than any of his predecessors since the Marquis of Hastings. He 
was strongly of opinion that the government of the feudatory princes was 
so bad that it was for the true interests of India that as many of them as 
possible should be got rid of, and their possessions taken under direct 
British rule. With this object he refused to fall in with the prevailing 
native custom by which childless rulers were allowed to adopt into their 
family anyone whom they chose, and to pass on to them their full rights 
of sovereignty. In this way, he declared, in 1848, that the Mahratta State 
of Satara had fallen in as a lapsed fief for want of an heir. In 1853 the 
much larger and more important principality of Nagpore was annexed 
on the same principle, and formed into the Central Provinces. Jhansi, 
a third Mahratta State, was taken over for the same reason in 1854. 

408 




VICTOR HUGO 



JOHN RUSKIN 



1870— FAMOUS POETRY AND PROSE WRITERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 




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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. a\ i 

When Bajee Rao, the Peishwa who had been stripped of his dominions 
but not of his title in 1818, died in 1853, Dalhousie refused to allow his 
title to be passed on to his adopted son Dhundu Punt, and gave him a 
pension instead. These acts seemed to the Hindoos to strike at the roots 
of all family life and ancestral custom. They could not understand the 
English view by which an adopted child is regarded as something very 
different from the actual son of his benefactor. In their ideas the annex- 
ation of Nagpore or Jhansi was simple robbery. 

Dalhousie also succeeded in shocking Mohammedan feeling by his 
seizure of Oude in 1856. The last king of that State was an incur- 
able spendthrift and a reckless oppressor of his subjects. Dalhousie, 
after repeated warnings, declared him deposed, and made a new prov- 
ince out of his wealthy but dilapidated realm. To "these enormous 
confiscations inside India he added one external conquest. The King 
of Burmah having molested the English merchants of Rangoon on many 
occasions, Dalhousie declared war on him in 1852, and drove him out of 
Pegu and the lands at the mouth of the Irrawaddy. They were added to 
Aracan and formed into the new province of British Burmah. 

Dalhousie was something more than a mere annexer of territory. 
He was a great reformer and organizer, introduced railways and tele- 
graphs into India, fostered the education of the natives, and endeavored 
to give them more places in the civil service than had seemed good to 
his predecessors. Nevertheless his actions must be considered as hav- 
ing contributed to a very considerable degree towards precipitating the 
great rebellion which broke out soon after his departure for England in 
1856. 

ORIGIN OF THE MUTINY. 

The origins of this fearful convulsion are not hard to trace, 
though the exact proportion which each cause had in producing the 
rising in 1857 is more difficult to ascertain. The mutiny was mainly 
a military conspiracy. It was only in Oude and a few other districts 
that the population of the countryside took any active part in it. For 
some years before the outbreak the spirit of the native army had been 
steadily deteriorating. The old notion of the invincibility of the British 
arms had been shaken by the Afghan disaster of 1841, and by the nar- 
row escape from defeat in the Sikg campaign of 1845-46. No tie ol 
natural loyalty bound the Sepoys to the Government which they served; 



4-12 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



indeed, a very large proportion of them were born subjects of the King of 
Oude, and resented his deposition. They were kept true by their 
pay and immunities, by their respect and affection for their officers, and 
by their wholesome dread of the European garrison of India. All 
these motives had been shaken of late. The Government had been 
offending them by sending them on over-sea expeditions to Burmah 
and China. Some of their old privileges, e. g. t extra pay for service be- 
yond the Sutlej, had been abolished. The tie of personal loyalty to their 
hierarchical superiors had been much loosened. The British officers no 
longer spent thei-r whole life with their regiment, and were often trans- 
ferred from corps to corps, or detached on civil employ. The compara- 
tive easiness of obtaining leave to England since the overland route had 
been invented, and steamships had brought India within six weeks' voy- 
age of London, was not without its effect. Moreover, in 1857 tne P ro ~ 
portion of British to native troops in India was abnormally low. Many 
of the regiments summoned to Europe for the Crimean war had not been 
replaced, and what white troops there were had been mainly concentrated 
in the newly-annexed Punjaub. Between the Sutlej and Calcutta there 
were at the moment of the outbreak only six British battalions. 

A great mercenary army which has begun to despise its masters, 
and thinks it has a grievance against them, is ripe for revolt. The 
Sepoys had been so much pampered and petted by the Government 
that they thought that it could not do without them. It only needed 
a cause and a cry to spur them into open rebellion. 

THE GREASED CARTRIDGES. 

The cause was supplied by political intriguers, largely drawn from 
the ranks of those who had suffered by Dalhousie's annexations. The 
dependents of the ex-King of Oude were a centre of discontent among 
the Mohammedans and those of the ex-Peishwa among the Mahrattas. 
The secret programme laid before the Sepoys was the restoration of the 
Mogul Emperor, who still lived as a pensioner at Delhi, as the national 
sovereign of India, and the restoration under his suzerainty of all the 
lately annexed States. This scheme would appeal more to Mohammedans 
than Hindoos, but the revival of the Peishwaship would not be without 
its effect among the latter. The actual cry which set the smouldering 
elements of rebellion ablaze was a foolish rumor to the effect that the 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 413 

Government was about to attempt to force Christianity on its subjects 
This was to be done, so it was averred, by defiling the soldiers. The 
grease of pigs and of cattle was to be smeared on the cartridges which 
were being issued to the troops for the new rifle, with which they were 
being re-armed. Hindoos would lose their caste by touching the lard of 
the sacred cow, and Mohammedans be polluted by handling the fat of the 
swine. All being contaminated, the " Sircar" would invite them to be- 
come Christians ! This incredibly silly tale found implicit credence in 
many quarters, and seems to have provoked the outbreak of the rebel- 
lion before its organizers were quite ready. It would seem that a general 
rising had been planned for the month of May, but even before that date 
isolated risings occurred. The first at Barrackpur, near Calcutta, was 
easily suppressed, and the two regiments which took part in it were dis- 
banded. The Government had no idea that they were dealing with a 
mere corner of a great conspiracy. 

OUTBREAK AT MEERUT. 

The serious trouble began with the revolt of the brigade at Meerut, 
a great cantonment near Delhi, on May 7, 1857. The mutineers, after 
shooting many of their officers, marched on the ancient capital, induced 
the troops there to aid them, and murdered many scores of Europeans. 
They then went to Bahadur Shah, the aged Mogul Prince, and saluted 
him as their monarch. He was placed on the throne of his ancestors, 
and hailed as Emperor of India. The news of the seizure of Delhi by 
the rebels flew round northern Hindostan in a moment, and was followed 
by mutinies in almost every cantonment where a native regiment lay. In 
most cases their rising was accompanied by the murder of their officers 
under circumstances of gross treachery and cruelty. In a few weeks the 
whole of Oude, with Rohilcund and the greater part of the North-west 
Provinces, was in the possession of the insurgents. The rising spread 
into Bahar at one end and into the Central Provinces at the other. The 
main centres of revolt were Lucknow, where a young relative of the old 
ruler of Oude was proclaimed King, and Cawnpore, which was seized by 
the would-be Peishwa Dhundu Punt, the adopted son of Bajee Rao — a 
miscreant better known by the name of the Nana Sahib. The English 
who escaped massacre sought refuge in the few stations, such as Agra 
and Allahabad, where there was a European regiment in possession. 



4H 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



The blow was so sudden and unexpected that for a moment the 
Government was paralyzed ; the Punjaub, where lay the greater part of 
the white troops, was separated from Calcutta by 400 miles of territory 
which had passed to the rebels. It was from Sir John Lawrence in the 
Punjaub that the first signs of movement came. After disarming the 
Sepoys in his district he sent a small force of 5000 British troops against 
Delhi. They forced their way to its gates, and there established them- 
selves, in order to attack a city garrisoned by twice their own number of 
regular troops. So began a siege which lasted from June 8th to Septem- 
ber 20th. Lawrence pushed up to aid the besiegers all the white men 
he could spare, and a quantity of new Sikh levies, raised mainly from the 
old enemies of 1848. They behaved admirably, and never for a moment 
showed any signs of disloyalty. On September 14th General Nicholson 
stormed the city, and after six days of desperate street-fighting the rebel 
army broke up, and the Emperor and all his family were taken prisoners. 
The aged Bahadur Shah himself was spared, but his sons and grandson 
were shot without a trial by Major Hodson, the fierce cavalry leader who 
had followed up and seized them. 

CAWNPORE AND LUCKNOW. 

Meanwhile two sieges further to the south had been engrossing the 
rebels of Oude. At Cawnpore General Wheeler, with 400 fighting men 
and a much larger number of women and children, was beleaguered by 
the Nana Sahib in some flimsy entrenchments. Worn out by heat and 
starvation, the garrison yielded on terms, when they were promised a 
free passage by river to Calcutta. But the treacherous Prince fell upon 
them as they were getting into their boats, and slew all the men in cold 
blood (June 27th). Two or three hundred women and children were 
saved alive for a time, but when he heard that an English force was 
drawing near Cawnpore, the infamous Mahratta had the whole of his 
unfortunate captives hacked to pieces and cast into a well (July 15th). 
A siege with a very different result was proceeding at Lucknow, where 
Sir Henry Lawrence, with a single British battalion and a great mass of 
English fugitives was being attacked by the main body of the Oude 
rebels. Lawrence was shot early in the siege, but his companions 
defended the extemporized fortifications of the Residency for three 
months against some 40,000 rebels, till relief at last came. 



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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



417 



It was brought by Sir Henry Havelock, who had arrived at Cal- 
cutta with the troops returning from the Persian war, and was promptly 
sent up country with a mere handful of men to endeavor to save Cawn- 
pore and Lucknow. He arrived too late to help Wheeler's unhappy 
garrison, but on September 25th cut his way through to Lucknow, and 
there established himself in the midst of the rebels, whom he was not 
strong enough to drive away. The gallant defenders of the Residency 
were not finally relieved till November, when Sir Colin Campbell, who 
had been sent out from England with reinforcements, came up and 
escorted them away from their stronghold. 

SUPPRESSION OF THE MUTINY. 

By this time Delhi had fallen, and England was pouring troops by 
tens of thousands into Calcutta and Bombay. The rest of the war con- 
sisted in the gradual hemming in and chunting down of the rebels by Sir 
Colin Campbell's army. In December he defeated, outside Cawnpore, 
the troops of Scindia, who, ( in spite of their master's orders, had taken, 
arms and joined the Oude insurgents. In February, 1858, he marched 
for the second time on Lucknow, and stormed palace after palace, till, 
after three weeks of hard fighting, the insurgents abandoned the place 
and fled into Rohilcund (March 21st). There they were beaten again at 
the battle of Bareilly (May 7th), and finally dispersed and fled to their 
homes. To the great grief of his pursuers, the infamous Nana Sahib 
escaped the sword and the rope, and got off into the jungles of Nepaul, 
where he is believed to have died of malaria a few weeks later. The 
only corner where the war now lingered was around the Mahratta towns 
of Gwalior and Jhansi, where the rebellion was headed by the Ranee of 
the latter place, a cruel Princess, who had massacred a number of English 
prisoners to avenge the annexation of her late husband's dominions in 
1854. She fell in battle, armed and fighting like a man, under the walls 
of Gwalior (June 16, 1858). This was the last general engagement in 
the war, but for many months more movable columns were still hunting 
down the last scattered bands of insurgents in Rohilcund and the Central 
Provinces. 

END OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY. 

One of the things which had buoyed up the Sepoys in their rising 
was a prophecy that the raj of the East India Company was destined to 



4i8 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



last only a hundred years, counting onward from Plassey and 1757. The 
forecast was actually fulfilled, though in a different sense from what the 
rebels had expected, for the company was abolished by Act of Parliament 
in 1858, and its administration taken over by the crown. Since 1833, 
when its constitution had been varied at once of the periodical renewals 
of its charter, it had been forced to give up its trading monopoly and its 
attempts to restrict the settlement of Europeans in India. In 1853 its 
distribution of patronage had been curtailed, and its civil service thrown 
open to competition. At the time of its dissolution, therefore, it had 
ceased to be a mainly mercantile concern, and was almost wholly 
occupied in administration. There was no reason why such work should 
not be under the immediate control of the Crown, and in 1858 the whole 
machinery of government was taken over and placed under a "Secretary 
of State for India" and the Governor-General, whose name was now 
changed to that of Viceroy. The European troops of the old company's 
army became the ioistto 109th regiment of the British establishment, 
and a new native army was organized to replace that which had ended so 
disgracefully in the mutiny. 

BRITISH AND FRENCH IN CHINA. 

The second British war with China led to the joint action of the 
British and French, already mentioned in a former chapter. The allied 
expedition bombarded and captured the great city of Canton, and com- 
pelled China to make a treaty with the Powers. The Chinese Govern- 
ment failed, however, to keep this treaty, and cast into prison, tortured 
and menaced with death the British envoys who were sent thither in ac- 
cordance with its terms. Forthwith a joint expedition to Peking was 
undertaken for the rescue of the envoys and the punishment of the 
Chinese Government for its bad faith. This expedition numbered among 
its officers Captain Charles Gordon, of the British army, a young man 
who had served with distinction in the Crimea, and who was destined to 
become one of the most famous soldiers of the century. We may tell 
the story of this war in the words of his dairy, as follows : 

"The landing of troops at Pehtang commenced August 1, when 
General Michel's Division (the 1st) was landed, the forts found deserted 
and occupied, and the soldiers on the following day quartered in the 
village. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 419 

August 9. — General Napier and Division (the 2d) landed. 

August 12. — An advance was made on the fortified village of Sinho, 
which was captured with the loss of two Sikhs and a few trifling casual- 
ties. The troops encamped in the plain within the enemy's outworks and 
rested the whole of the next day. 

August 14. — The ist Division advanced and drove the enemy from 
their position in the village of Tangkoo, and then retired to the neigh- 
borhood of Sinho, while the 2d Division was quartered in the village. 
Active preparations were then made for the capture of the North Fort, 
and the engineers of the ist Division were engaged in building a bridge 
at Sinho, in order to cross the river to attack the Southern Forts in case 
the assault on the North Fort failed. 

August 21. — At daylight the assault commenced on the North Fort. 
The firing ceased at a little after 8. The enemy were given till 2 to 
surrender the remaining forts. At that hour the Buffs and 8th Punjaubis 
marched into the 2d North Fort and took it without firing a shot ; its 
garrison of upwards of 2000 men were set free. In about an hour after- 
wards the South forts were also yielded. We lost 201 killed and 
wounded, the loss of the French were {sic) about 130, and that of the 
Chinese enormous, not less than 2000. 

August 29. — The ist Division crossed the floating bridge and started 
on the march to Tien-tsin along the right bank of the river. The Cavalry 
Brigade marched along the left. 

August 31. — The 2d Division left their quarters at Tangkoo and en- 
camped near Sinho close to the floating bridge. Next morning they 
crossed and encamped on the side opposite. 

September 3. — The division advanced and halted at the village of 
Kihkoo, some eight miles on the road to Tien-tsin. 

September 4. — Marched to Pehtangkow, 1 1 miles further on. 

September 5. — Arrived at Tien-tsin and encamped on the large plain 
near the temple outside of the city walls. 

MOVING ON PEKING. 

" September 7. — 3000 men, under General Michel, pushed on for 
Pookow, the first halting place on the march to Peking. The convention 
was to be signed at Tungchow, and the troops were to form Lord 
Elgin's escort to Peking. 



420 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



September 8. — Marched to Yangtsun, where the army had to halt 
two days on account of the rain. The French, who were following, halted 
at Pookow. 

September 1 1. — Marched to Nan-tsai-tsun. 

September 12. — To Hoseewoo. 

September 17. — The 31st left to garrison Hoseewoo. The rest 
marched on and encamped at Ma-tow. 

September 18. — March commenced and continued for six miles 
when Hoppo Hang was found waiting in his chair on the road to point 
out the encamping ground. A large Tartar army in front — evident 
signs of treachery. Colonel Walker and Commissary Thompson have 
to ride for their lives under fire of native musketry. The army finds 
itself nearly surrounded by guns in ambush, which open fire. A grand 
fight commences, which ends in the perfect defeat and rout of the Tar- 
tars. The enemy are driven beyond the village of Chang-chia-wan, 
which is given up to loot, and the houses for quartering the troops. 

September 21. — An advance on the numerous encampments of the 
enemy east of Tungchow on the banks of the Yun-leang Canal. The 
camps are burned and the enemy again completely routed with much loss 
of life. One dragoon of ours is killed and one Sikh, with a few wounded. 
The toll bridge, the floating bridge and the stone bridge all fall into our 
hands. At the last place the French had pretty close quarters with the 
Tartars and made great havoc among them. The army encamped on 
the south side of the canal. 

October 1. — A village on the road to Peking is taken for a depot. 
The suburbs of Tungchow and the north gate are occupied by the 
marines. 

October 3. — The army crosses the canal and takes up position near 
the depot, two miles towards Peking. 

October 4. — Advanced, but halted early near some brick-kilns in 
sight of Peking, where the army encamped without tents or baggage. 

FALL OF PEKING. 

'• October 5. — Pushed on to the Tartar camp at the An-ting Gate on 
the north side of the city, intending to rendezvous at the Summer Palace 
in the evening. The British general, however, changed his mind and 
halted at the Tihshing Gate after the Tartars were driven away, but the 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 421 

French pushed on and got possession of the chief gate of the Summer 
Palace, which was defended by some eunuchs. 

October 6. — The French looted the Palace. 

October 7. — The English allowed to loot. 

October 8. — Loot recalled, sold, and the produce apportioned. 

October 18. — The 1st division, under General Michel, sent out to 
burn all the Imperial buildings in and near the Summer Palace. 

October 20. — The An-ting Gate delivered up to us and occupied 
conjointly by the French and English. 

October 24. — Grand entrance into the city with Lord Elgin to ratify 
the treaty. The ceremony took place at the Hall of Ceremonies, and the 
convention was signed by Prince Kung, the Emperor's brother. 

October 25. — French treaty signed. The English Ambassador took 
up his residence in Peking, guarded by the Royals. The French 
Ambassador came in on the following day. 

November 1. — The French army marched this morning for Tien- 
tsin, leaving one regiment as guard of honor to Baron Gros. 

November 6. — Treaty proclaimed throughout Peking and placarded 
on all conspicuous places. 

November 7. — Half the troops under General Napier returned to 
Tien-tsin. 

November 9. — The rest of the army leaves Peking, as also the 
Embassy, leaving Interpreter Adkins to pass the winter in the city and 
prepare an establishment for Mr. Bruce, who will return by next spring. 
Mr. Bruce was yesterday introduced to Prince Kung. 

November 12. — Treaty published in 'Peking Gazette.' " 

THE RISE OF SARDINIA. 

Meantime another great power was coming into existence in Europe. 
Sardinia had sent troops to the Crimea as an ally of England and France. 
These did not play a great part in the war, but Sardinia was thus 
entitled to a place in the Congress of Paris at the close of the war, and 
there her great Minister, Count Cavour, appeared on an equal footing 
with the plenipotentiaries of the great powers, and adroitly seized the op- 
portunity to represent the evils which Italy suffered from foreign occupa- 
tion. From this time Sardinia was practically recognized by all Italians as 
the representative and leader of the national cause. A subscription was 



42 2 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

raised in the chief towns of the peninsula to assist in the fortification of 
Alessandria. Austria was bitterly exasperated, and the Austrian Minister 
was recalled from Turin. It was evident that the struggle could not be 
long delayed. Sardinia could not hope to contend single-handed with 
Austria, and relied for assistance upon the sympathies of Napoleon III. 

ATTEMPT TO KILL NAPOLEON. 

So far no tangible results had been obtained from the French 
alliance, and at this crisis an event occurred which almost broke it off 
altogether. On January 14, 1858, Orsini, a member of the secret society 
of the Carbonari, attempted to assassinate the French Emperor by throw- 
ing bombs under his carriage as he was going to the opera. The 
Emperor himself escaped unhurt, but nearly one hundred and fifty of the 
bystanders were either killed or wounded by the explosion. A very 
stringent "law of public safety" was adopted in France, which placed the 
persons and property of all suspected persons at the mercy of the 
Government. But the most important result of the attentat was the 
sudden change of relations with England and Piedmont. Both countries 
were denounced as harboring and protecting assassins. With England 
the quarrel became a serious one. The " Moniteur " published addresses 
from the French colonels to the Emperor, which contained the most 
offensive references to England, and excited a storm of indignation in 
that country ; the volunteer force was organized, Palmerston's Ministry 
had to resign, and the government of Lord Derby showed a manifest 
inclination to support Austria against French designs in Italy. 

The relations between France and Italy were naturally affected by 
the attentat. Orsini was an Italian and belonged to an Italian society. 
The reactionary and clerical parties in France tried to utilize the occasion 
to detach Napoleon III from his connection with Italy. Walewski, the 
French foreign Minister, called upon the Government of Turin to intro- 
duce modifications into the laws in order to protect foreign rulers against 
the plots of assassins, and to satisfy public opinion in France. But Victor 
Emanuel refused to alter the constitution at the dictation of a foreign 
power. The only concession he would make was the passing of a law 
prohibiting the publication in Sardinia of articles which tended to provoke 
rebellion against friendly governments. In the end the act of Orsini rather 
helped than thwarted the aspirations of Italy. The motive for the plot 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 423 

was that Napoleon had broken his solemn pledges to the Italian patriots. 
He could not disarm the assassin more effectually than by giving some 
signal proof that he was still devoted to the cause which he had adopted 
in his youth. In July he had an interview at Plombieres with Cavour, at 
which it was secretly arranged that France would support Sardinia in 
case of a war with Austria. This was followed by the conclusion of a 
secret treaty, which confirmed the arrangement of Plombieres, and 
agreed that Lombardy and Venetia should be annexed to Sardinia to 
form a Kingdom of Northern Italy. In return for these concessions, 
Victor Emanuel pledged himself to cede Savoy and Nice to France. 

WAR WITH AUSTRIA. 

The neutral powers did all they could to avert the approaching war, 
and proposed that the grievances of Italy should be submitted to a Con- 
gress. Cavour had to exert all his diplomatic abilities to prevent a com- 
promise, and at the same time to disguise any apparent desire for war. 
The assistance of France could not be looked for unless Austria could be 
represented as the aggressor. Fortunately the Government at Vienna 
stepped in to assist its enemies. Austria refused to allow that Sardinia 
should be represented at a Congress to settle the affairs of Italy, and 
finally sent an ultimatum to Turin demanding disarmament within three 
days under penalty of immediate war. This was exactly what Cavour 
was waiting for. He refused the demand, and the Austrian army, 
200,000 strong, at once crossed the Ticino (May 27th) and occupied No- 
vara and Vercelli. Had they marched straight upon Turin they could 
have seized the city long before the arrival of aid from France. But the 
Austrian commanders showed signal incompetence throughout the cam- 
paign, and the opportunity was lost. Napoleon III lost no time in fulfill- 
ing his obligation to his ally, and assumed the command of the French 
army in person. On May 13th he landed at Genoa and was there joined 
by Victor Emanuel. The Sardinian troops were to act as the auxil- 
iaries of the French, and a body of volunteers, the famous "hunters of 
the Alps," was organized under the command of Garibaldi to harass the 
Austrians in the broken country at the foot of the Alps. The campaign 
was short and decisive. No conspicuous generalship was shown on 
either side, but the superior fighting power of the French gave them the 
victory. 



424 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

MAGENTA AND SOLFERINO. 

The battle of Magenta (June 4th), at which MacMahon won the 
marshal's baton, gave Milan to the allies, and forced the Austrians to re- 
tire upon the Quadrilateral. Francis Joseph now assumed the command 
at Verona, and at Solferino (June 24th) the three sovereigns all appeared 
upon the field. It was a soldiers battle, and after ten hours' obstinate 
fighting, in which both sides suffered enormous losses, the Austrians 
were again completely defeated. 

The rapid success of the allies had roused the utmost enthusiasm 
in Italy. Leopold II of Tuscany fled to the Austrian camp, and a pro- 
visional government was erected in Florence. Parma, Modena and 
Bologna were deserted by their rulers. From all these States envoys 
appeared to offer the sovereignty to Victor Emanuel. The question of 
annexation was deferred until after the conclusion of peace, but in the 
meanwhile the King sent commissioners to undertake a provisional 
regency in his name. 

PEACE OF VILLAFRANCA. 

At this moment, when the freedom of northern and central Italy 
seemed assured, and the allies were preparing for the conquest of 
Venetia, the news fell like a thunderbolt upon the Italian patriots that 
Napoleon III had granted an armistice to the Austrians and had con- 
cluded the preliminaries of a peace at Villafranca (July 12th). By this 
arrangement Lombardy was to be ceded to Sardinia ; Austria was to re- 
tain Venetia and the Quadrilateral ; the old rulers were to be restored in 
Tuscany, Modena, Parma and the Roman Legations, and Italy was to be 
organized as a federation under the honorary presidency of the Pope. 
The final settlement was to be agreed upon in a conference at Zurich 
of plenipotentiaries from Austria, France and Sardinia. Napoleon's 
motives for thus breaking his promises were eagerly debated at the time, 
but are now tolerably clear. He was carrying on the war not only for 
Italy, but also for France. French public opinion, which he could not 
afford to disregard, was ready to welcome any weakness of Austria, but 
looked with fear and suspicion upon the erection of a strong and united 
state in Italy. It was obvious that the victories of the allies would 
give to Sardinia, not only Lombardy and Venetia, but the whole of 
central Italy, and this was more than Napoleon had contemplated at 
Plombieres. Moreover, the annexation of the Legations would bring 




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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 427 

him into collision with the Papacy, and the Empire was not strong 
enough to dispense with the support ot the priests. Personal motives 
had also great weight with him. He had done enough for fame, but 
he was conscious that his victories were not due to his own general- 
ship, and that an attack on the Quadrilateral would be difficult and 
probably dangerous. 

UNION OF NORTHERN ITALY. 

Victor Emanuel was bitterly disappointed by the sudden blow 
to his hopes. Cavour urged him to repudiate the treaty, to refuse the 
cession of Lombardy, and to throw the whole responsibility of the 
measure upon Napoleon III. But the King was too prudent to take 
this advice, and Cavour resigned, his place being taken by Rattazzi. 
Victor Emanuel accepted the treaty of Villafranca ''pour ce qui me 
concerned and obtained a promise from the Emperor that he would not 
tolerate any forcible restoration of the rulers of Tuscany, Parma, 
Modena and the Legations. It was certain that the people would not do 
it of their own accord, especially while they were assured of the sym- 
pathy and moral support of Piedmont. The Sardinian commissioners 
were recalled, but their place was taken by provisional governments. 
Parma and Modena were united into a single State under the name of 
Emilia. In complete disregard of the treaty of Villafranca, which was con- 
firmed by the conference of Zurich, representative assemblies were sum- 
moned, and voted for the annexation of their respective provinces to the 
Sardinian monarchy. Victor Emanuel received their envoys graciously, 
and promised to do all in his power to obtain the approval of Europe 
for their wishes. It was suggested that a European Congress should 
meet to discuss the question. The proposal came to nothing, but it 
served to reconcile Victor Emanuel and Cavour. The latter was the 
only man who could be trusted to represent the Italian cause among the 
diplomatists of Europe. 

In January, i860, Rattazzi resigned and Cavour was entrusted with 
the formation of a new Ministry. Great exertions were made to induce 
the Pope to listen to the demands of his subjects. But Pius IX would 
not hear of any diminution of his temporal power, and it was evident 
that Victor Emanuel must again risk a quarrel with the Papacy. 
To conciliate the French Emperor, Cavour determined that the wishes of 



4 2 g STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

the central provinces should be expressed by a plebiscite. The result 
was a foregone conclusion, and in March, i860, Tuscany, Emilia and 
Romagna were formally annexed to Sardinia. In the next month a 
Parliament met in which the new provinces were represented, and the 
annexation was enthusiastically confirmed. The deposed princes issued 
futile protests, and the Pope resorted to his last weapon of excommuni- 
cation. 

SAVOY AND NICE. 

Napoleon III discovered that it was easier to excite a storm than to 
allay it. In France the recent expedition was attacked as a quixotic 
enterprise in which French' interests had been sacrificed to the aggran- 
dizement of Sardinia. To satisfy his subjects the Emperor now de- 
manded the cession of Savoy and Nice, which had hitherto been dropped 
because its condition, the annexation of Venetia with Lombardy, had not 
been fulfilled. It was hard for Victor Emanuel to give up the country 
which had been the cradle of his race, but political interests were imper- 
ative. By Cavour's advice he consented to the sacrifice on condition 
that the approval should be obtained both of the Savoyards and the 
Italian Parliament. In the latter a violent debate took place. Garibaldi 
had been born in Nice, and expressed bitter resentment at its annexation 
by a foreign ruler. But the majority of Italians cared little for Savoy, 
which really stood outside the peninsula, and had no sympathy with the 
national cause. The annexation was approved by 229 votes to 233. 
Thus the last step was taken in the long process by which the house of 
Savoy was transformed into a purely Italian dynasty. 

GARIBALDI LIBERATES NAPLES AND SICILY. 

The monarchy of Victor Emanuel now included the whole of Italy 
with the exception of three provinces, Venetia, the remaining Papal 
States, and the Two Sicilies. In the latter kingdom the brutal Ferdinand 
II (Bomba) had been succeeded in 1859 by his son, Francis II. Over- 
tures had been made to the new King from Turin, proposing the forma- 
tion of a constitutional monarchy in southern Italy, which should co- 
operate with Sardinia in supporting the national cause against the 
foreigner. But Francis II refused to alter the system of government 
bequeathed by his father, and clung obstinately to the Austrian alliance. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 429 

Under these circumstances a contest between the north and south was 
inevitable. But Victor Emanuel could not venture on another war for 
his own aggrandizement without alienating Europe and risking a quarrel 
with France. A solution of the difficulty was offered by an independent 
adventurer, whose zeal for the cause of Italy was not affected by any 
regard for the scruples of kings and princes. Garibaldi, indignant at 
the unpatriotic sacrifice of Nice, was eager to find a new field of action, 
and determined to offer himself as a champion to the oppressed sub- 
jects of the house of Bourbon. Collecting a thousand volunteers at 
Genoa, he sailed to Sicily and landed near Marsala (May 14, i860). 
Within two months the whole island had been secured by the reduction 
of Palermo (June 6th) and Messina (June 25th). Garibaldi became an 
almost mythical hero, and his fame began to overshadow that of Victor 
Emanuel and Cavour. Francis II now hastened to announce his inten- 
tion of granting a constitution and allying himself with Sardinia. But it 
was too late to win the confidence of a people that had so often suffered 
from the perfidy of their rulers. Garibaldi crossed over to the mainland, 
met with absolutely no resistance, and entered Naples in triumph (Sep- 
tember 7th). Francis II retired with 20,000 troops to Gaeta, while 
another part of his army occupied Capua. 

DEFEAT OF THE PAPAL ARMY. 

Meanwhile Pius IX had commenced a crusade for the recovery of 
the Legations, and entrusted the command of his army to the French 
General, Lamoriciere. The Government of Turin demanded the dis- 
armament of this force, and on the Pope's refusal an army under Cialdini 
entered Umbria. At Castel Fidardo the Papal army, a disorganized 
rabble of different nationalities, was utterly routed (September 14th . 
Lamoriciere had to surrender in Ancona, and was sent back to France. 
Austria, Russia, Prussia and France expressed their disapproval of the 
invasion of Papal territory by recalling their Ambassadors from Turin. 
But Victor Emanuel, having made up his mind to brave the perils of 
excommunication, was not much impressed with this diplomatic protest. 
He followed his army to Ancona and proceeded thence into Naples. An 
attack upon Rome or the surrounding Patrimony of St. Peter would have 
brought the Sardinians into collision with the French garrison, and would 
certainly have roused the hostility of Napoleon III. 



430 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



VICTOR EMANUEL KING OF ITALY. 

The rapid success of Garibaldi involved an unexpected danger for 
Sardinia. He had not been in any formal connection with the court of 
Turin, and had, in fact, conquered Naples against its will. Instead of 
annexing his conquest to Victor Emanuel's kingdom, he assumed the 
title of Dictator, and went so far as to demand the dismissal of Cavour. 
Mazzini urged him to form a republic of Naples, and such an act must 
have retarded, if it did not prevent, the union of Italy. But Cavour acted 
with politic decision. Representing to the French Emperor that his 
action was necessary to thwart the revolutionary party, he assembled the 
Parliament and obtained from it a decree authorizing the annexation of 
the conquered Papal Provinces and the Two Sicilies. Garibaldi found it 
necessary to play a more humble part than had been suggested to him. 
He was still engaged in besieging Capua when the arrival of the Sar- 
dinian army compelled the capitulation of the fortress. He laid down 
his temporary dictatorship, acknowledged the authority of Victor 
Emanuel, and retired, covered with glory, to his island home at Caprera. 
The siege of Gaeta was now commenced in form by Cialdini. For some 
time the presence of the French fleet prevented an attack by sea, but at 
last, on February 16, 1861, Francis II had to surrender, and sought 
refuge in Rome. A real Italian kingdom had now been formed by the 
addition of Umbria, the Marches and the Two Sicilies. Nearly 23,000,000 
subjects acknowledged the rule of Victor Emanuel. There were diffi- 
culties and dangers to be confronted in the future. National unity could 
not be created all at once. The population of the south had had no 
training to fit them for the enjoyment of constitutional liberties, and 
some time must elapse before Naples could stand on the same political 
level as Piedmont or Tuscany. The Austrians still held Venetia, and 
would seize the first opportunity to recover their lost supremacy. Rome, 
with its Papal Government and French garrison, was not yet Italian, and 
provincial jealousies must continue as long as any but the Eternal City 
was regarded as the capital. But all these considerations were forgotten 
on February 18, 1861, when the first Italian Parliament, containing repre- 
sentatives from all the provinces except Venetia and the Patrimony, met 
in the Palazzo Carignano at Turin. Vociferous cheers greeted the arrival 
of " Victor Emanuel II, by the grace of God and the will of the nation, 
King of Italy." This ceremony was followed within a few weeks by the 



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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 433 

death of the man who had contributed more than any other to bring 
about this grand result. Cavour must always rank as one of the ablest 
diplomatists of the nineteenth century; but he was more than a diplo- 
matist, he was a statesman. His keen perception that Italy could not 
be set free without foreign assistance ; the adroit use which he made of 
Napoleon III ; the way in which he evaded the treaty of Villafranca ; and, 
above all, the masterly manner in which he ousted Garibaldi from Naples, 
were all diplomatic triumphs of the highest order. But his internal 
reforms ; his measures for the advancement of trade and education ; his 
adherence to liberal principles in the face of a revolutionary party ; his 
appreciation of the difficulties of uniting southern with northern Italy, are 
no less conclusive proofs of his constructive statesmanship. It was hard 
for him to die before his work was completed by the acquisition of Venice 
and Rome, but he may be credited with having anticipated the way in 
which this completion was to be brought about. He foresaw the rise of 
Prussia, and sought to enlist the sympathies of that power with the Italian 
cause. He was anxious to settle the Roman question peaceably so as to 
avoid offending the Roman Catholic powers. The temporal power had 
undoubted advantages, but at the same time it imposed serious checks 
upon the action of the church. Cavour offered the removal of these 
checks in exchange for the sacrifice of temporal sovereignty. His 
favorite expression, "-Libera Chiesa in Libero Stato" (a free Church in a 
free State), has been rightly chosen as the inscription on his tomb. 

INTERESTS OF VARIOUS LANDS. 

The year 1858 saw France, assisted by Spain, waging a war with 
Anam, and thus taking another step toward the upbuilding of a great 
Indo-Chinese empire for herself. At the same time Russia compelled 
China to cede to her the great Amoor territory south-east of Siberia. 

In Mexico we have to record the fall of President Comonfort. The 
succession was violently disputed. The clerical and reactionary parties 
put forward Zuloaga and recognized him as President. The Liberals on 
the other hand declared Benito Juarez to be President. General 
Miramon, leader of the reactionary party, was at first successful, but 
instead of putting Zuloaga into power he seized supreme power for him- 
self in 1859. In i860, however, Juarez was successful. He overthrew 

Miramon and became President of Mexico. 
23 



434 STORY OF ONiS HUNDRED YEARS. 

Massacres of the Maronites by Druses in the Lebanon, and of 
Christian at Damascus in i860, led to the intervention of Europe and the 
sending of a French force to Syria, as a result of which the Lebanon was 
formed into a semi-autonomous State with a Christian Governor. 

In 1860-61 the Emperor ot Austria undertook a re-organization of 
his complex realm on a federal basis. The constitutional system of 
consolidation was adopted in February, 1861. 

On January 2, 1861, Prince William of Prussia succeeded his 
brother, King Frederick William IV, as King William I. 

The final emancipation of the serfs of Russia dates from March 3, 
1 86 1. The Crimean war had exhausted the resources of Russia and had 
given rise to great discontent in that country. To satisfy his subjects 
Alexander II adopted a liberal policy and introduced a number of reforms, 
of which the greatest was the emancipation of the serfs. The peasants 
on the crown domains, some 20,000,000 in number, received personal 
freedom by a series of edicts in 1858. More difficulty was experienced 
in dealing with the serfs of private owners, but, after long negotiations 
with the territorial lords, the great edict was issued on March 3, 1861. 
All peasants attached to the soil became free cultivators, with the per- 
manent occupation of part of their land, the rest being left to the lord. 
The permanent occupation might be exchanged for absolute ownership 
by a money payment, and the Government organized a system of loans 
to enable the peasants to free themselves at once by becoming debtors 
to the State. 



CHAPTER XXXIIL 



First Atlantic Cable used for a few Messages — African Exploration- 
Livingstone Discovers Lake Nyassa — " Striking Oil — 
Fate of Sir John Franklin — Literary 
Landmarks— The Death Roll. 



WE have hitherto told of the invention of the electric tele- 
graph, and of the earliest attempts to operate it by means 
of submarine cables. After the practicability of cables 
across such bits of water as the British Channel was fully 
demonstrated, there were grave doubts of the possibility of extending 
it across so vast an expanse of water as the Atlantic Ocean. In 1853, 
however, Cyrus West Field, of New York, became interested in the 
subject. His first venture was the building of a land line across 
Newfoundland, to receive and transmit news brought by swift steam- 
ships from the coast of Ireland. The next year he obtained from the 
Government of Newfoundland for a period of fifty years the exclusive 
right to land upon the coast of that island telegraphic cables crossing 
the Atlantic Ocean. This was little noticed at the time, save as the 
whim of a visionary, which never could be realized. But Mr. Field 
was in earnest. He formed a company, which he called the New 
York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company, his associates 
being Peter Cooper, Moses Taylor, Marshall O. Roberts, and Chandler 
White. In 1856 this company had completed its lines from New 
York to the eastern coast of Newfoundland. But then the real 
work was to begin. 

Mr. Field went to London in 1856, and there organized the At- 
lantic Telegraph Company, of which he himself furnished one-fourth oi 
the capital. He prevailed upon the British and United States Govern- 
ments to furnish the ships for carrying and laying the cable. The 
first cable-laying expedition set out in 1857, Mr. Field himself 
accompanying it. The work of laying the cable was begun at Val- 
entia, Ireland, on August 5, 1857, the vessels employed being the 

435 



436 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

"Niagara" and "Susquehanna," of the United States, and the "Leopard" 
and "Agamemnon," British. After paying out a few miles, the cable 
snapped. It was repaired, and the vessels went on. On August n, 
when they had laid about 500 miles, the cable snapped again, and the 
6hips returned to Plymouth. On June 20-21, 1858, a second attempt 
was made, but was brought to failure by a violent storm. The third 
attempt was successful. The vessels made their way from Ireland to 
Newfoundland, and joined Europe and America with 2050 miles of 
wire. On August 16, 1858, the first message was sent, from Queen 
Victoria to President Pierce, and the second was the President's reply 
to the Queen. This event caused world-wide rejoicing, which was, 
however, destined to be short-lived. The cable had not been properly 
made. Its insulation failed, and by September 4 it altogether failed 
to work. A new company was promptly formed, to perfect the under- 
taking which was now seen to be practicable, and a few years later 
the task which Mr. Field had set before himself was successfully 
accomplished. The story of that triumph belongs, however, to a later 
chapter. 

AFRICAN EXPLORATION. 

The work of African exploration was steadily pressed. In 1857 
the great area of Damara Land, in the south-western part of the Conti- 
nent, was traversed by Hahn and Rath, German explorers, from which 
fact Germany in after years derived her title to that territory. Dr. 
Bastian was at that time exploring parts of the Angola and Congo 
country, and Paul Du Chaillu was at work on the west coast. Under 
the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain, 
Captains Burton and Speke, who had already done good work at 
Harrar, a trading- centre in Somali Land, set out from Zanzibar to 
survey the interior of the continent, and especially to find if possible 
certain great lakes, the existence of which had been reported by the 
Mombas missionaries. Their most successful effort was made in 
1857-9, which resulted in the discovery of the great Lake Tanganyika, 
in a deep basin in eastern Africa, and of the southern portion of 
another large lake lying to the north thereof, which Speke believed to 
be the source of the Nile. Captain Speke was anxious to extend his 
knowledge of this marvelous country, and in i860 he set out with 
Captain Grant on another expedition, the results of which were of the 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 437 

highest interest, and will be related in their proper chronological order 
in another cnapter. 

Meantime, Petherick, Lejean, Miani, the Poncets, Antinori, Debono, 
Peney, and others were exploring the Nile valley irom the Egyptian 
end, and the French scientist Duveyrier was exploring the Algerian 
Sahara. 

LIVINGSTONE DISCOVERS LAKE NYASSA. 

The Zambesi expedition, of which Livingstone was commander, 
sailed from Liverpool in H. M. S. "Pearl" on March 10, 1858, and 
reached the mouth of the Zambesi on May 14, and the party ascended 
the river from the Kongone mouth in a steam launch, the " Ma-Robert," 
reaching Tette on September 8. The remainder of the year was 
spent in examining the river above Tette, and especially the Kebrabasa 
rapids. Most of the year 1859 was spent in the exploration of the 
river Shire and Lake Nyassa, which was discovered in September ; 
and much of the year i860 was spent by Livingstone in fulfilling his 
promise to take such of the Makalolo home as cared to go. In Janu- 
ary of next year arrived Bishop Mackenzie and a party of mission- 
aries sent out by the Universities Mission to establish a station on 
the upper Shire. 

"STRIKING OIL." 

The year 1858 was made memorable by the beginning of the 
great petroleum industry in the United States. In the earliest Colon- 
ial days the existence of a natural mineral oil had been known, and 
the oil had been gathered in a rude way and used for medicinal pur- 
poses by the Indians and the Colonists. In the first quarter of 
this century many wells were sunk in eastern Pennsylvania, Ohio, and 
adjacent regions, for salt water, from which to manufacture salt. 
Some of these yielded a crude oil, which was merely enough to 
spoil the brine and, as was supposed, to make the well worthless. 
A well in Kentucky, 1829, yielded so much and so good oil, how- 
ever, that the proprietor bottled the oil and sold it for medicinal 
purposes. 

The refining of petroleum and use of it for illuminating purposes 
were first undertaken in France, in 1834. Twenty years later a 
patent was taken out in this country for a similar process, and then 



438 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

men began to see the value of the oil they had formerly regarded as 
worthless. The Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company was formed in 1854, 
for the purpose of procuring oil at Oil Creek, Pennsylvania. It did 
not prosper, and in 1858 leased its land near the present city of 
Titusville to a portion of its stockholders, who employed Colonel 
Drake to sink an artesian well thereon. After numerous unsuccess- 
ful efforts, a well was driven to a depth of sixty-nine feet, and then 
began to yield an abundant flood of fine petroleum. The success of 
this well was the signal for such a rush as may be compared only 
with the rush for gold in California. The country was soon dotted 
with wells, of which many were worthless, but many others were pro- 
lific of oil, and thus one of the greatest and most profitable industries 
in the world had its origin. The precise date of "striking oil" in 
Colonel Drake's well was August 29, 1859. 

FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. 

While these important discoveries were being made in Equatorial 
Africa, other explorers were busy in the Arctic regions. In 1859 
McClintock succeeded where so many had failed, and discovered the 
fate of Sir John Franklin and his comrades. It was ascertained that 
the entire Franklin expedition had perished, but not before it had in 1846 
discovered the North-west Passage which had been the object of its 
illustrious leader's quest ; so that Franklin was triumphant, though at 
the cost of his life. 

The same year, 1859, saw Russia victorious over the tribes of the 
Caucasus by her defeat of Shamyl at Ghunib on September 6. Thus 
another ste toward Russian domination of Asia was effected. 

Oscar I of Sweden was in 1859 succeeded by his son, Charles 
XV, the latter having been Regent for two years. 

LITERARY LANDMARKS. 

Two noteworthy literary landmarks of the age must here be 
noted. In 1857 the first part of Buckle's "History of Civilization in 
England" was published. In 1859 appeared a still greater work, mark- 
ing an epoch in science. This was Charles Darwin's " Origin of 
Species," which forms the foundation of the whole system of evolution- 
ary philosophy. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 439 

Another event of vast importance in the world of science was the 
introduction of spectrum analysis, by Kirchhoff and Bunsen. This 
marvelous invention may be said to have revolutionized several of the 
chief departments of science, including chemistry and astronomy. 

THE DEATH ROLL. 

Illustrious names were plentifully added to "the silent majority" 
in the years of which we are writing. The year 1857 saw the deaths 
of Alfred de Musset and Beranger, two of the most noted of French 
lyric poets; of Eugene Sue, the author of "The Wandering Jew" 
and similar works, which laid the foundation of a new school of 
French fiction ; and of Comte, the philosopher and founder of Pos- 
itivism. 

In 1859 the world lost three of its greatest historians in Hallam, 
Prescott, and Macaulay ; De Tocqueville, the author of " Democracy 
in America," a work which has become a classic ; Washington Irving, 
one of the chief adornments of America literature ; De Quincey, one 
of the greatest of critics and essayists ; Humboldt, one of the most 
colossal figures in the world of natural science ; Metternich, the last 
of the giants of the old school of diplomacy and reactionary govern- 
ment ; and Schopenhauer, founder of the pessimistic school of philosophy. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



Abi&ham Lincoln becomes President of the United States — Plans of Seces- 
sionists — Beginning of the War — The Great Uprising — The First Fight- 
ing—Bull Run— The "Trent" Affair— Fort Donelson — Pittsburg 
Landing — " Merrimac " and Monitor — Capture of New Orleans 
— McClellan's Campaigns — The Second Bull Run — Antie- 
tam — Emancipation — Operations in the West — Vicks- 
burg — Chan cellorsville— Gettysburg— Riots in New 
York — Chickamauga — Grant in Virginia — Win- 
chester—Sherman's March— Thomas in Ten- 
nessee — Naval Operations — End of the 
War — Assassination of Lincoln — Pres- 
ident Johnson — Impeachment. 



THE history of Lincoln's administration as President of the United 
States is a history chiefly of civil war and of the abolition of 
slavery. We have already related how, during the period between 
Lincoln's election in November, i860, and his inauguration on 
March 4, 1861, several of the Southern States seceded from the Union, 
organized themselves in a new Confederacy, and prepared for war. At 
this time the population of the entire country was more than 31,000,000. 
Of these, 9,000,000 were in the seceding Southern States, 3,700,000 of 
them being negro slaves, while in the loyal States of the North there 
were more than 22,000,000. In point of wealth, the superiority of the 
North over the South was still more marked. Nearly all the manufac- 
tures of the nation were in the Northern States. The South was almost 
exclusively an agricultural country, cotton, sugar, tobacco and rice being 
its great staples. Away back in Jackson's Administration South Caro- 
lina had violently resisted the imposition of a protective tariff, and other 
Southern States had sympathized with her. Now, in the new Confed- 
eracy a protective tariff was constitutionally prohibited. The result was 
that the Confederacy found itself without manufactures and unable to 
create them, and dependent for manufactured goods upon importations 
from abroad. As soon as the Federal Government was able to blockade 

440 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 44 1 

the Southern ports and prevent imports, the Confederacy was deprived 
of necessary supplies. On the score of fiscal policy, therefore the 
advantage rested with the North as decidedly as in other respects. 

PLANS OF SECESSIONISTS. 

It was the hope and expectation of the secessionists that all the slave 
States would secede. In this they were disappointed, for in addition to 
the States mentioned in a preceding chapter as having seceded, only four 
others withdrew from the Union. They were Arkansas, Tennessee, 
North Carolina and Virginia. These did not secede from the Union 
until after Lincoln's inauguration and the actual beginning of hostilities. 
When the war actually began in South Carolina, and Lincoln called on 
the various State Governments for troops, the Governors of these States 
refused to respond to the call, and the States thereupon seceded. There 
were, however, many strong Unionists in North Carolina and Arkansas, 
and nearly all the people in the eastern part of Tennessee remained 
loyal to the Union. In the western part of Virginia the Union sentiment 
was so strong that a solid block of forty counties seceded from the State 
and organized themselves into a new State, which was afterwards ad- 
mitted into the Union as West Virginia. By this separation a new and 
loyal State was added to the Union, and the old State of Virginia was 
deprived of about two-fifths of her territory and one-fourth of her popu- 
lation, and was reduced in rank among the States from fifth to ninth. 
Even with this loss, however, Virginia remained the most populous and 
most important State of the Southern Confederacy, and in May, 1861, 
the capital of the Confederacy was removed from Montgomery, Alabama, 
to Richmond, Virginia. This fact, and the proximity of Virginia to the 
seat of the National Government at Washington, made Virginia the chief 
battle-ground of the war. 

The secessionists also counted upon material aid from the Democrats 
at the North. In this they were disappointed. They did receive a little 
aid and encouragement from a few Democrats who were popularly termed 
"Copperheads," but the great mass of the Northern Democracy followed 
the example of Senator Douglas and other eminent leaders, and loyally 
supported President Lincoln in his efforts to preserve the Union. The 
secessionists also hoped for substantial aid from France and England, if 
not for actual intervention in their behalf. They knew that the great cot- 



442 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

ton factories of England depended upon the Southern States for their 
supply of raw material. Blockade of the Southern ports would there- 
fore mean great industrial distress in England, and might lead to inter- 
vention. As a matter of fact the cotton industries of England were 
almost entirely prostrated by the war, and a strong sentiment in favor 
of the South was thus aroused. Some aid was clandestinely given to the 
South also by individual Englishmen, including Mr. Gladstone, in the 
way of fitting out privateers to prey upon American commerce. But 
largely through the personal influence of the Queen, the British Govern- 
ment remained neutral and entirely friendly to the United States, and 
when the French Emperor, Louis Napoleon, proposed armed interven- 
tion in favor of the South, and the Russian Government agreed to the 
proposition, the British Government peremptorily vetoed it, and insisted 
that the United States should be left unhampered in its efforts to preserve 
its national existence. 

BEGINNING OF THE WAR. 

Lincoln became President on March 4th. At that time the Gov- 
ernment of South Carolina had already seized some of the National for- 
tifications at Charleston, and was threatening to seize the most important 
of them all, Fort Sumter. On April 8th the Governor of South Carolina 
was notified that reinforcements and supplies were forthwith to be sent by 
the Federal Government to the garrison of Fort Sumter. He tele- 
graphed this information to Jefferson Davis, the President of the Con- 
federacy, at Montgomery, and a Cabinet meeting was at once called to 
determine what should be done. Most of the Confederate leaders were 
in favor of violent resistance. The only one who took a decided stand 
against it was the Secretary of State, Robert Toombs, formerly a United 
States Senator from Georgia. He had always had the reputation of 
being a "fire-eater," but on this occasion his counsels were conservative 
and peaceful. To fire upon Fort Sumter, he said, " would surely inaug- 
urate a civil war greater than any the world has yet seen. You will wan- 
tonly strike a hornet's nest which extends from mountains to ocean, and 
legions now quiet will swarm out and sting us to death. It is unneces 
sary. It puts us in the wrong. It is fatal." Despite this warning, which 
subsequent events fulfilled, the other Confederate officers decided upon 
war. President Davis sent orders to General Beauregard at Charleston 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 443 

to demand the evacuation of Fort Sumter by the Federal troops, and in 
case the demand was not complied with, to attack the fort and reduce it. 
The demand was made. The Federal officer in command, Major Robert 
Anderson, refused to surrender. Thereupon a bombardment of the fort 
was begun by the Confederate batteries encircling it. The attack was 
begun on the morning of Friday, April 12th, and was continued until 
the following Sunday afternoon. Many thousands of men took part in 
the attack, while the defenders of the fort numbered only seventy. At 
last the little garrison surrendered and marched out with colors flying. 
Not a man was killed on either side. 

THE GREAT UPRISING. 

Thus the war began. On Monday, April 15th, President Lincoln 
issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 troops to suppress the rebellion. 
Two days later Jefferson Davis replied with a proclamation authorizing 
the fitting out of privateers to destroy United States commerce. Two 
days later still, President Lincoln declared the whole Southern coast, 
from South Carolina to Texas, in a state of blockade. Thus on both 
sides war was unmistakably declared. By a curious coincidence the first 
actual bloodshed occurred on April 19th, the anniversary of the first 
shedding of blood in the Revolutionary War. On that day a regiment 
from Massachusetts, on its way to Washington in response to the 
President's call, was fired upon by a mob in the city of Baltimore, and 
several men were killed. 

The fall of Fort Sumter did indeed, as Mr. Toombs had predicted, 
"strike a hornet's nest." Instantly there was a tremendous uprising of 
patriotic feeling throughout the North. The whole nation started into 
action. Lincoln's first call was for 75,000 troops. Within a few weeks, 
more than 300,000 were placed at his disposal. 

THE FIRST FIGHTING. 

The first military operations of importance were in the border State 
of Missouri. This was a most important State, and desperate efforts 
were made on the one side to draw it into the Confederacy, and on the 
other to hold it loyal to the Union. The majority of the people favored 
the Union, but the State Government inclined toward secession. The 
State would undoubtedly have been committed to the cause of secessior 



444 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

had it not been for the prompt action of two loyal men at St. Louis, 
Frank P. Blair, a lawyer, and Captain Nathaniel Lyon, Commander of 
the United States Arsenal. In May and June, 1861, these two men 
organized a movement which overthrew the existing State Government 
and established in its place one loyal to the Union. A United States 
force was quickly organized under Lyon and put into the field to oppose 
the forces which the secessionists were raising, and military operations 
soon began. In August a battle was fought at Wilson's Creek, in which 
Lyon was defeated and killed. In spite of this, however, the Union 
cause was triumphant in Missouri, and the Confederates soon lost their 
hope of gaining that State. 

The border State of Maryland, despite a strong secessionist senti- 
ment in the city of Baltimore, remained steadfastly in the Union. Ken- 
tucky did the same. At the beginning of September, 1861, indeed, a 
Confederate army of 15,000 men, under General Polk, invaded the State 
and prepared to seize the important town of Paducah, at the junction of 
the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers, while another Confederate army entered 
the State by way of Cumberland Gap. These acts strengthened the 
Union sentiment in the State, and Kentucky remained loyal throughout 
the war. At this time there was a small Federal force at Cairo, Illinois, 
under the command of a young colonel of militia named Ulysses Simp- 
son Grant. He was a West Point graduate, and had served in the 
Mexican War. At the outbreak of the Civil War he had returned to the 
military service of the country. Three days after the invasion of Ken- 
tucky by General Polk, Grant crossed over from Illinois into Kentucky 
and occupied Paducah. This was a highly important strategic move, 
equivalent to a great victory for the Union. A few days later the Ken- 
tucky Legislature, by an overwhelming majority, directed the Governor 
to demand the retirement of Polk and the Confederate army from the 
soil of Kentucky. A motion was also made for a similar demand for the 
retirement of Grant and the Federal troops, but this was overwhelmingly 
defeated. 

BULL RUN. 

The first noteworthy battle of the war occurred on July 21st, at Bull 
Run, Virginia. A Federal force of 35,000 men, mostly raw recruits, 
under command of General McDowell, was marching from Washington 
toward Richmond. At Bull Run it came into conflict with a Confederate 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 445 

army of about the same size, under Generals Beauregard and J. T. 
Johnston. For several hours the fighting was sustained without decisive 
result. Then Confederate reinforcements to the number of several 
thousand arrived upon the scene. The Union army was thrown into 
disorder, and panic and a discreditable rout ensued. The total losses in 
the battle were about 5000 killed and wounded. This defeat was a blow 
to the Union cause, but it had the valuable effect of further arousing the 
Northern mind to a realization of the seriousness of the struggle. 

A little later the Confederate armies invaded West Virginia and 
were driven out by Union troops commanded by Generals McClellan 
and Rosecrans. His successes in those operations raised McClellan high 
in popular favor, and he was widely acclaimed as a "Young Napoleon." 
In the fall of 1861 he was summoned to Washington, and there succeeded 
the venerable General Scott as general commanding the entire United 
States army. He thereupon devoted himself chiefly to organizing and 
drilling the great army which had been collected at Washington, and 
which was known as the Army of the Potomac. 

THE "TRENT" AFFAIR. 

At the end of 1861 an incident occurred which came very near 
involving the United States in trouble with Great Britain. Two Southern 
leaders, Messrs. Mason and Slidell, were sent out as diplomatic agents 
of the Confederacy to visit England and France and seek the sympathy 
and aid of those powers. They succeeded in running the blockade and 
getting to Havana. At that port they embarked on a British mail 
steamer, the "Trent," for England. On the high seas the "Trent" was 
overtaken by the United States warship "San Jacinto," commanded by 
Captain Wilkes, and Messrs. Mason and Slidell were arrested against 
the protests of the Captain of the "Trent," and were brought to Boston 
and confined in Fort Warren. This act was at first enthusiastically 
applauded throughout the Union, and the House of Representatives at 
Washington adopted a resolution thanking Captain Wilkes. The 
British Government, however, promptly and vigorously protested, and 
on sober second thought President Lincoln and Secretary Seward 
realized that a grave error had been committed. The seizure of Messrs. 
Mason and Slidell was formally disavowed, and those gentlemen were 
released. The incident intensified, however, the animosity toward the 



446 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 

United States which was already felt in England on account of tho 
depression in the cotton manufacturing industry. 

FORT DONELSON. 

The earliest operations of 1862 occurred in the West. The Con- 
federates had massed their forces at various points in Tennessee and in 
a part of Kentucky. The centre of their lines in that part of the country 
was at Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River, and Fort Donelson, on the 
Cumberland. Their right extended to Bowling Green, near the centre of 
Kentucky, and their left to the Mississippi River. At their right they were 
opposed by the Army of the Cumberland, under General Buell. A part 
of Buell's army, under General Thomas, won an important Union victory 
at Mill Spring, Kentucky, in January, 1862, and drove the Confederates 
back into Tennessee. In February, 1862, General Grant, co operating 
with Commodore Foote and his small flotilla of gunboats, captured Fort 
Henry and Fort Donelson, taking no less than 15,000 Confederates as 
prisoners of war. At Fort Donelson the Confederate commander tried 
to negotiate for terms. Grant's reply was, " No terms can be accepted 
except an unconditional and immediate surrender. I propose to move 
immediately upon your works." The unconditional surrender of the 
fort followed. This great victory and the manner in which it was 
effected made Grant a rival of McClellan as the military idol of the 
nation. The capture of Fort Donelson was the first really great Union 
victory, and it was an almost fatal blow to the Confederate cause in that 
part of the country. 

PITTSBURG LANDING. 

The next stand made by the Confederates was along the line of the 
southern border of Tennessee, from Memphis to Chattanooga, the centre 
of it being on and near the Tennessee River, at Pittsburg Landing, 
Shiloh and Corinth. The Confederates were there under the command 
of General Albert Sidney Johnston, one of their very ablest officers, and 
the second in command was General Beauregard. On the Northern 
side General Grant and General Buell moved forward to effect a junction 
at Pittsburg Landing. Learning of their plans Johnston rushed his army 
up from Corinth toward Pittsburg Landing in order, if possible, to strike 
and crush Grant's army before Buell's could join it. In this Johnston 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 447 

was nearly successful. On April 6th the armies met at Shiloh. General 
Johnston was killed early in the engagement, and Beauregard succeeded 
him in command. Grant's army suffered dreadful losses, and was driven 
back to the bank of the Tennessee River. There it made a desperate 
stand against overwhelming odds, and succeeded in holding its ground 
until nightfall. Then Buell's army began to arrive. Some Federal gun- 
boats approached on the river and were able to take part in the opera- 
tions of the next day. On the morning of April 7th the battle was 
renewed, and for six hours raged with great fury. The result was that 
the Confederates were driven back in complete disaster. A few weeks 
later they were driven out of Corinth, and thus the centre of their second 
line was utterly broken. 

" MERRIMAC" AND "MONITOR." 

Early in the war the Federal authorities, partly through treason, 
partly through panic, abandoned the great United States navy yard at 
Norfolk, Virginia, after setting fire to all the vessels, arsenals and store- 
houses there. Millions of dollars worth of property were thus de- 
stroyed. One of the vessels, the gigantic warship " Merrimac," was only 
partly destroyed. The Confederates raised her hulk, renamed her the 
" Virginia," and covered her with a heavy sheathing of railroad iron, 
sloping up from the water's edge in the form of a barn roof. They pro- 
vided her with heavy guns and a monstrous iron beak or ram at her bow. 
This was the first great ironclad warship in the world. The Confed- 
erates expected that she would be able easily to destroy any United 
States ships that might be sent against her, and to approach and bom- 
bard New York, Boston and the other great Northern seaports. These 
expectations came perilously near fulfillment. At Hampton Roads the 
United States had a fleet of five warships, probably equal in strength to 
any other five ships in the world, save only the " Merrimac." On March 
8, 1862, the " Merrimac " came down from Norfolk and attacked this fleet. 
Their shot rattled harmlessly on her iron sides, while her cannon-balls 
went through and through their wooden sides. The great ram of the 
"Merrimac" crushed in the sides of the "Cumberland" and sent her to the 
bottom with all her crew. Then the "Merrimac" attacked the "Congress," 
drove her aground and forced her to surrender. Nightfall interrupted 
the battle, but there was no reason to doubt that early the next morning 



448 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

the other three Union ships would be destroyed and the " Merrimac*' 
would proceed on her career of destruction. 

But the next day had in store a surprise even greater than that of 
the appearance of the " Merrimac." Captain John Ericsson, of whom 
we have already spoken as the inventor of the screw-propeller and the 
hot-air engine, had invented a type of vessel which he called the 
" Monitor." This was a small vessel, with all of its hull submerged be- 
low the water excepting a few inches of freeboard and the deck, all of 
which was of iron. Upon the centre of the deck was placed a cylindri- 
cal revolving turret of iron, containing two large guns. Very little faith 
was placed in the efficiency of such a vessel save by Ericsson himself and 
a few friends. The boat was built very hurriedly at New York, and be- 
fore she was fully completed, was sent to Hampton Roads to assist, if 
possible, the other ships there in contending with the " Merrimac," of 
the preparation of which disquieting rumors had gone abroad. The 
" Monitor " arrived at Hampton Roads during the night following the 
"Merrimac's" attack upon the fleet and the destruction of the "Cum- 
berland" and the "Congress." She next cast anchor behind the big 
wooden frigate "Minnesota," and waited for the morning. Early in the 
forenoon of the following day the "Merrimac" again approached the 
Federal fleet and made her first attack upon the " Minnesota." The tiny 
" Monitor," looking, as was said, " like a cheese-box on a plank," 
steamed out from behind the frigate and engaged her gigantic adversary. 

For an hour the two ironclads battered each other with cannon- 
balls, and the " Merrimac" again and again, but in vain, tried to ram the 
"Monitor." At the end the " Merrimac " was beaten and was com- 
pelled to withdraw from the scene, completely baffled. The " Monitor," 
scarcely injured, remained the victor, the savior of the Federal navy and 
of the seaboard cities of the North. In that hour naval warfare was 
revolutionized. The great wooden navies of the world were seen to be 
worthless before the advent of the ironclad. It may be added that the 
" Monitor" was afterwards lost in a storm at sea, while the " Merrimac" 
was run aground in the James River and burned. 

CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS. 

The first task of the United States Navy in the war was that of 
blockading the coast of the Southern States. This was done with note- 




JAMES RUSSEL LOWELL 



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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 45 1 

worthy effectiveness, but the task called into service the most extraordi- 
nary array of naval vessels the world has ever seen. The regular war- 
ships of the United States were entirely too few. The Government 
therefore made use of innumerable merchant ships, fishing boats, yachts, 
river steamers, and even ordinary ferry boats. This motley fleet served 
to maintain the blockade and to reduce various Confederate fortifications 
along the coast. During 1861 the forts at Hatteras Inlet and at Port 
Royal, South Carolina, were reduced and captured. In April of the next 
year, soon after the battle at Pittsburg Landing, occurred one of the 
greatest naval exploits of the war. At that time the Federal fleet, under 
the command of Admiral Farragut and Commodore Porter, forced its 
way past the forts of the mouth of the Mississippi River, captured the 
great city of New Orleans and got control of the river nearly up to 
Vicksburg. At the same time the fleet of gunboats which had been 
constructed on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers opened those streams to 
the Union forces as far down as Memphis. At the latter point a large 
fleet of Confederate gunboats was destroyed. These victories gave the 
Union forces control of the entire Mississippi River with the exception 
of Vicksburg, which was deemed an impregnable fortress, and was 
commonly called the Gibraltar of the West. 

McCLELLAN'S CAMPAIGN. 

In the spring of 1862 General McClellan set out with the Army of 
the Potomac to capture Richmond. His army was then the largest and 
best equipped this continent had ever seen. It would probably have 
defeated all Confederate forces that could be sent against it had not its 
commander suffered from over caution. McClellan's chief advance was 
made up the York River. A part of his army, under McDowell, advanced 
from Washington towards Richmond by way of Fredericksburg. A 
third division, small in size, under Banks and Fremont, was posted in 
the Shenandoah to guard against a Confederate advance upon Washing- 
ton in that direction. The Confederate commander at first was Joseph 
Johnston. He first detained McClellan for a month in a siege of York- 
town. Then he retreated toward Richmond, lured McClellan's army 
into a dangerous position on both sides of the Chickahominy River and 
then turned fiercely upon it. The result was that in the bloody battle of 

Fair Oaks, on May 31st, McClellan's army was badly defeated and 
24 



452 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

narrowly escaped destruction. General Johnston was seriously wounded, 
and General Robert E. Lee succeeded him as the chief Confederate 
commander. 

At about the same time the famous General Thomas J. Jackson, 
popularly known as " Stonewall " Jackson, made a dashing raid into the 
Shenandoah Valley, overwhelmed and put to flight the small Union 
army there, and so menaced Washington that McDowell's army was 
hastily recalled to defend that city. This enabled Jackson to rejoin 
Lee near Richmond, and completed the success of the Confederate 
campaign. 

McClellan now changed his base from the York to the James River. 
While he was doing so Lee attacked him with energy, and a series of 
desperate battles followed. During the week of June 26th to July 1st, 
an important battle was fought every day, McClellan steadily falling back 
after each engagement. His total losses during the week were more 
than 15,000. The last battle of this series was that of Malvern Hill. 
The ground on which the Union army made its stand was admirably 
chosen by Colonel Richard Irwin, and was strongly defended. The 
result was the disastrous repulse of the Confederates and an unqualified 
victory for the Army of the Potomac. Had McClellan vigorously prose- 
cuted his advantage he might have crushed Lee and captured Richmond. 
But he procrastinated, and the advantage was lost. 

THE SECOND BULL RUN. 

Shortly before the battle of Malvern Hill, McClellan was removed 
from the chief command of the Federal armies, and that command was 
given instead to General Halleck, who had gained some borrowed repu- 
tation by his participation in the victories of Grant and others in the 
West. A re-organization of the Federal armies and a new plan of 
campaign followed. The forces in Northern Virginia were concentrated 
under General Pope, and McClellan was ordered to abandon his opera- 
tions against Richmond and to move his army by water to Aquia Creek, 
where it was to join General Pope. While this movement was being 
made Lee united his army with that of Stonewall Jackson, and together 
they attacked Pope at Bull Run on August 28th and 30th. The Union 
army was utterly defeated, losing more than 14,000 men, while the 
Confederate losses were about 10,000. 



8T0RY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 453 

ANTIETAM. 

Lee followed up this victory by advancing with his whole army into 
Maryland, and thus threatening the cities of Washington and Baltimore. 
A panic prevailed in the North. All available forces were hastily col- 
lected and placed under McClellan's command and sent westward 
through Maryland to head off Lee. The Confederate commander was 
disappointed to find Maryland by no means friendly to him. He held 
himself there to be in the enemy's country. There was no hope of 
getting Maryland to join the Confederacy, so he determined to make a 
bold dash to capture the city of Washington. He first sent Stonewall 
Jackson to capture Harper's Ferry, where there was a Union force oi 
1 1,000 men guarding the crossing of the Potomac. Jackson took the 
place, captured the garrison and rejoined Lee before McClellan arrived. 
The Union and Confederate forces at last came together on September 
17th at the little village of Antietam, Maryland. Lee occupied a strong 
position with about 50,000 veteran soldiers. McClellan had a larger 
army, numbering about 80,000, but it was by no means so well disciplined 
and organized. The battle was desperately contested, and the losses 
amounted to more than 25,000 men, Lee was beaten, though not put to 
rout. He retired leisurely, however, into Virginia, and thus his first 
invasion of the North was frustrated. McClellan was not blamed for 
not more vigorously following up the advantage he had gained, and early 
in November was removed from his command of the Army of the 
Potomac, and was succeeded by General Burnside. 

EMANCIPATION. 

The battle of Antietam, indecisive though it was in some respects, 
marked a great crisis of the war. We have said that President Lincoln's 
original intention was not to interfere with slavery in the Southern States 
unless forced to do so, but to strive simply for the maintenance of the 
Union. The Antietam campaign convinced him that a change of policy 
was necessary. He decided to issue a proclamation setting free all 
slaves in the rebellious States. The Constitution gave him no authority 
to do this. But ample warrant for such action was found in the sound 
principles of military law. "I say," said John Quincy Adams on a 
memorable occasion, "that the military authority takes for the time the 
place of all municipal institutions. Under that state of things the Presi- 



454 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

dent of the United States, as Commander of the Army, has power to 
order the universal emancipation of slaves." Lincoln recalled that 
memorable utterance, and acted according to its suggestion. Imme- 
diately after the battle of Antietam he issued the immortal Emancipation 
Proclamation. In this he announced that on January i, 1863, in all 
States still remaining in rebellion, the slaves should thenceforth and for- 
ever be freed. It will be observed that this did not apply to the slaves 
which were still held in some of the loyal States, such as Kentucky, 
Maryland and Missouri. It was evident, however, that with the abolition 
of slavery in the South, the institution would soon come to an end else- 
where. This Proclamation sounded, therefore, the death-knell of human 
slavery in the United States. 

OPERATIONS IN THE WEST. 

Other incidents of 1862 were a dreadful outbreak of the Sioux 
Indians in Minnesota and Iowa, in which nearly a thousand men, women 
and children were butchered ; an invasion of Kentucky by the Con- 
federates under General Bragg, starting from Chattanooga, reaching 
Perryville, and, after a bloody defeat, retreating to Chattanooga ; victories 
by the Union army, under General Rosecrans, at Iuka and Corinth, 
Mississippi; and finally, on December 31st and January 1st and 2d, a 
great battle between Rosecrans and Bragg at Stone River, in which more 
than 20,000 men were killed and wounded, but of which the result was 
indecisive, though the Confederates were compelled to retire from the 
field. 

VICKSBURG. 

At the end of 1862 the Union operations at Vicksburg for the cap- 
ture of that stronghold began. General Sherman made an attack upon 
the bluffs at the north side of the town on December 29th, but was de- 
feated. All through the winter the siege of Vicksburg continued. 
General Grant tried to send his armies around the place at the east, but 
the Confederates cut his lines of communication and compelled him to 
retreat to avoid starvation. On the 1st of February Grant took his army 
to the west side of the Mississippi opposite Vicksburg. During Feb- 
ruary and March he tried, by digging canals and deepening channels, to 
open a passageway for gunboats to pass the city of Vicksburg without 
coming within range of the Confederate batteries. These efforts, how- 




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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 457 

ever, proved fruitless. His next scheme was to have Sherman's Division 
of his army make an attack upon Vicksburg and thus divert attention 
from the river, and then have Porter's fleet of gunboats run past the bat- 
teries and get below Vicksburg, where they could enable Grant's main 
army to recross the river below the city and make an attack in the rear. 
At the same time Grant sent General Grierson through the eastern part 
of Mississippi, making a brilliant raid and inflicting much damage upon 
the Confederates. 

Grant was successful in his scheme for getting across the river be- 
low Vicksburp-. He crossed at Bruinsburg- and defeated the Confederate 
army at Port Gibson. Thence he advanced upon Vicksburg from the 
south. After a long campaign, along and near the Big Black River, in 
which Grant was uniformly successful, the Confederate army under 
General Pemberton retired into Vicksburg, and that place was closely 
besieged. This was on May 1 1 th. In eleven days Grant had marched 
200 miles, had defeated two armies in five battles, had captured ninety 
cannon, and had made the downfall of Vicksburg certain. 

Two attempts to take Vicksburg by storm followed, but were unsuc- 
cessful. Then Grant settled down to reduce the place by siege. In this 
he was successful. On July 4, 1863, General Pemberton was compelled 
to surrender the place with his army of 32,000 men, and the Federals 
thus gained control of the Mississippi River from its source to the sea. 

CHANCELLORSVILLE. 

Further east, meanwhile, great deeds of arms had been wrought. 
On December 13, 1862, General Burnside with the Army of the Potomac, 
made an injudicious assault upon Lee's army at Fredericksburg, where 
Lee's army occupied a position of great strength. The Union army was 
defeated with a loss of 12,000 men. Burnside was removed from com- 
mand and " Fighting Joe " Hooker succeeded him. Active operations 
were then suspended until spring, when on May 1st to 4th Hooker at- 
tacked Lee at Chancellorsville. Hooker had about 90,000 men, and Lee 
not more than half that number. But Hooker was completely out- 
generaled by Lee and was defeated and put to rout. His losses were 
nearly 30,000 in killed and wounded, and this was the worst defeat 
sustained by the Union army in the whole war. The Confederate 
army, however, sustained an irreparable loss in the death of Stonewall 



458 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

Jackson, who was mortally wounded while successfully effecting the 
decisive manoeuvre of the battle. 

GETTYSBURG. 

After his great victory at Chancellorsville, Lee again invaded the 
North. He swept triumphantly across Western Maryland into Pennsyl- 
vania, threatening not only Washington and Baltimore, but Philadelphia 
and New York. General Hooker and General Halleck quarreled, and the 
former resigned his command. General George Gordon Meade was ap- 
pointed to succeed him. Meantime the remnant of the Army of the 
Potomac, together with all other available troops, including raw levies 
from the North, made a desperate race to catch up with Lee and check 
him in his formidable career. Only a few days after Meade's appoint- 
ment as commander of the Army of the Potomac the two armies came 
together at the little village of Gettysburg, in Southern Pennsylvania. 
This place controlled the road between Lee's army and the Potomac 
River, and was, therefore, of strategic importance. On July ist two 
corps of the Union army, under Generals Reynolds and Howard, en- 
countered the van of the Confederate army under General A. P. Hill. A 
severe battle ensued in which the Union army was defeated. General 
Reynolds was killed and his troops retreated. The Confederates were re- 
inforced by General Ewell and his corps, and the Union army was also 
strengthened by the arrival of General Hancock and his corps. The Union 
line was now formed on the crest of Cemetery Ridge, a chain of small hills 
south of the village. It was a strong position and Meade hurried up 
his entire army to hold it. On the next day, July 2d, the battle was 
renewed. Lee's entire army had arrived and confronted the Union 
forces. It occupied Cemetery Ridge, a line of small hills parallel to 
that on which the Union army was intrenched. Lee sent General 
Longstreet with the right wing of the Confederate army to attack 
General Sickles on the two hills called Round Top and Little Round 
Top. After a desperate fight Sickles was compelled to retreat, but the 
main position on the hills was held by the Union forces. At the other 
end of the line General Ewell attacked the Federal position on Culp's 
Hill, which was held by General Slocum. Ewell was successful in cap- 
turing Culp's Hill and spent the night there, but at daybreak was 
compelled to retire. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



459 



Being thus baffled in both attempts to turn the Federal flanks, Lee 
decided, on the third day of the battle, July 3d, to make a grand attack 
at the centre. This operation began with a tremendous artillery duel, 
which lasted two hours. Then Lee sent Pickett's Division of Long- 
street's corps, numbering 15,000 infantrymen, the flower of the Confed- 
erate army, squarely at Hancock's position at the centre of the Union 
lines. It was one of the most splendid spectacles ever seen in an Ameri- 
can war. The Confederate troops moved forward as smoothly as though on 
parade, though the Union cannon mowed them down whole companies at 
a time. They forced their way across the valley and up the slope of Cem- 
etery Ridge. They forced their way to the very breastworks and sprang 
upon them to bayonet the Union gunners. It was Lee's supposition that 
the main body of the Army of the Potomac had not yet arrived, and that 
behind the breastworks would be found only raw recruits. But the Army 
of the Potomac was there. It stood firm, and after a struggle unsur- 
passed in the history of war, the Confederate troops were hurled back in 
utter defeat. At the same time a furious attempt was made by the Con- 
federate cavalry to get around and attack the Union army in the rear. 
This was met and baffled by a counter attack of the Union cavalry. 

Thus ended this great battle, the greatest the American Continent 
has seen, and one of the greatest the world has ever known. About 
153,000 troops were engaged on both sides, the Union army being 
slightly the larger. The total losses in killed, wounded and missing were 
more than 54,000, or considerably more than one-third of all the forces 
engaged. Lee gathered together the remains of his army and retreated 
precipitately back into Virginia. Meade's army was too shattered and 
worn to overtake and capture him. But the fate of the Confederacy was 
decided. It was evident that no Southern army could ever again hope to 
invade the North. But the capacity of the South for stubborn resistance 
was not yet exhausted. 

RIOTS IN NEW YORK. 

To meet the advance of Lee into Pennsylvania not enough troops 
could be obtained by the volunteer system, and so a draft was ordered. 
This measure was generally unpopular. In New York City it gave the 
criminal classes a pretext for rioting. On July 13th an extensive out- 
break occurred, and for four days the city was at the mercy of ruffians 



460 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

and professional criminals, who had flocked thither from all parts of the 
country. The situation was rendered worse by the fact that the local 
militia regiments were absent from the city, having gone to aid the Army 
of the Potomac in Pennsylvania. The police force performed miracles 
of valor, but were unable to cope with the mob. Many buildings were 
burned, jewelry stores and other places of business, as well as innumer- 
able private houses, were broken open and plundered, hundreds of ne- 
groes, including women and children, were killed by hanging and burn- 
ing, and the whole city was a pandemonium of arson, loot and murder. 
The New York Seventh Regiment and other troops hastened back to 
the scene and quickly restored order at the cost of the lives of hundreds 
of the rioters. 

CHICKAMAUGA. 

The great victories of the Union armies at Gettysburg and Vicks- 
burg were followed in September by a disastrous defeat. This oc- 
curred in Tennessee. General Rosecrans compelled the Confederate 
general, Bragg, to evacuate Chattanooga. Lee then sent Longstreet to 
assist Bragg, and thus reinforced, Bragg attacked Rosecrans at Chick- 
amauga on September 19th and 20th. In this great battle about 
125,000 men were engaged, and nearly 40,000 were killed or wounded. 
The right wing of the Union army was driven from the field, but the 
left wing, commanded by the illustrious General Thomas, stubbornly held 
its ground and saved the Union army from utter rout. Thomas' de- 
fence of his position at Chickamauga was the most noteworthy per- 
formance of the kind in the whole war, and has probably never been 
surpassed in the history of the world. 

A few weeks later Rosecrans was removed from the command of 
the Army of the Cumberland, and was succeeded by General Thomas. 
Sherman also came up from Vicksburg with the Army of the Tennessee 
and joined him. Grant was put in supreme command of these armies 
and of all the Union forces west of the Allegheny Mountains. Hooker 
was also sent thither from Virginia with reinforcements. In November a 
great battle occurred, or rather series of battles, around Chattanooga, 
including- the famous battle " above the clouds " on Lookout Mountain. 
These operations were directed by the four greatest generals of the 
Union army, Grant, Thomas, Sherman and Sheridan. The Confederates 
under General Bragg were completely defeated. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 46 1 

GRANT IN VIRGINIA. 

In the spring of 1864 General Grant was made Lieutenant-General, 
a rank which had previously been held in the United States by only 
Washington and Scott. He was also made Commander-in-Chief of the 
entire Union army. He made his headquarters with the Army of the 
Potomac, which remained under General Meade, and began a campaign 
in Virginia, not to capture Richmond, but to crush General Lee. He 
advanced squarely against Lee on the road from Fredericksburg to 
Richmond, and during May and June, 1864, fought the fearful battles 
of The Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor. In these engage- 
ments he lost a total of 64,000 men. Lee's losses were scarcely as large, 
but were really more serious, since the South had a far smaller popula- 
tion upon which to draw for reinforcements. From Cold Harbor Grant 
advanced to Petersburg, near Richmond. This was one of the most 
strongly fortified places in all Virginia, and there Grant was held at bay 
by Lee until the spring of the next year. 

WINCHESTER. 

Meantime Lee sent General Early up the Shenandoah Valley to 
menace Washington. He hoped thus to frighten the Union Government 
into recalling Grant's army for the defence of that city. In this he was 
disappointed. General Sheridan was sent to the Shenandoah to deal 
with Early. On October 19th, while Sheridan was at Winchester, on his 
way back from a visit to Washington, Early suddenly attacked Sheridan's 
army at Cedar Creek, twenty miles away. The Union army was utterly 
routed and driven back more than seven miles. Sheridan, aroused by 
the sound of distant cannon, mounted his horse and galloped hastily all 
the way from Winchester until he met his retreating army. His arrival 
inspired the troops with fresh courage. They rallied, turned back, and 
in turn put Early to rout, resting that night in the very camp from which 
they had been driven in the morning. 

SHERMAN'S MARCH. 

While Grant thus came east to Virginia, Sherman started south from 
Chattanooga. Bragg had been superseded in the command of the Con- 
federate army by General Johnston, a much abler man. Johnston was, 
however, compelled to retreat before Sherman's superior force. The 



462 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

battles of Resaca, Dallas and Kenesaw Mountain were fought in suc- 
cession, with total losses of more than 35,000 men. Then Sherman 
reached Atlanta, Georgia. Johnston was now superseded by Hood, who 
made two desperate attempts to fight his way out of Atlanta. It was in 
vain. On September 2d Sherman captured Atlanta. Hood was driven 
out and retreated into central Tennessee, hoping Sherman would follow 
him thither and relieve Georgia from invasion. But Sherman did not do 
so. He sent a part of his army back under General Thomas to deal with 
Hood, and for himself continued his operations in Georgia. About the 
middle of November Sherman set out from Atlanta with an army of 
60,000 men. His destination was unknown, and for a time was a puzzle 
to both South and North. He reached the sea coast of Savannah and 
captured that city just before Christmas. From Atlanta to Savannah 
he had swept clear of all supplies a belt of country sixty miles in width. 

THOMAS IN TENNESSEE. 

General Thomas meantime marched up into Tennessee to deal with 
Hood. The first battle was fought at Franklin, Tennessee, on November 
30th, between Schofield and Hood. It resulted in the repulse of Hood, 
with heavy losses on both sides. Then Thomas came up with his force 
and met Hood at Nashville on December 15th. A great battle was 
fought, lasting two days. More than 100,000 men were engaged, and 
the losses were heavy on both sides. Hood's losses were more than 
15,000 men, and his army was utterly defeated and scattered. 

NAVAL OPERATIONS. 

Some naval operations must now be briefly noted. Among all the 
Confederate privateers fitted out in England the most famous was the 
"Alabama," commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes. This famous vessel 
cruised about the world destroying hundreds of American vessels and 
millions of dollars' worth of property. She was at last trapped in the 
harbor of Cherbourg, France, by the United States ship " Kearsarge," 
commanded by Captain Winslow. A naval duel was fought between 
them just outside of Cherbourg harbor, with the result that the "Alabama" 
was destroyed. Captain Semmes escaped to England. 

An attack was made upon the Confederate forts and fleet in Mobile 
Bay by a Union fleet under the command of Admiral Farragut. This was 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 463 

probably the largest and most fiercely contested naval battle of the war 
The Confederates employed submarine torpedoes and a number of heavy 
ironclad rams. Farragut, standing in the rigging of his flagship, the 
" Hartford," directed the Union attack and won a complete victory. 

END OF THE WAR. 

On capturing Savannah, Sherman turned northward and marched 
through South and North Carolina to join Grant and end the war. At 
Goldsborough he again encountered General Johnston and defeated him 
on March 19th. Lee strove to effect a junction with Johnston, abandon- 
ing Richmond to its fate. Sheridan prevented this in the battle of Five 
Forks on April 1st. The next day the Confederates were forced to 
abandon Petersburg. Then the Confederate Government fled from Rich- 
mond, and Lee was cornered at Appomatox Court House. There, on 
April 9, 1865, he surrendered the remnant of his army to General Grant 
Two weeks later Johnston surrendered to Sherman. On May 10th 
[efferson Davis was captured in Georgia. A few minor operations 
closed the war. 

ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN. 

The great rejoicings of the nation at the fall of Richmond and the 
surrender of Lee were quickly turned into mourning. On the evening 
of April 14th President Lincoln was assassinated as he sat in a theatre in 
Washington, by John Wilkes Booth, an actor, of strong Confederate 
sympathies, and died early the next morning. At the same time efforts 
were made to assassinate Secretary Seward and other members of the 
Government, but these were, happily, unsuccessful. Booth was soon 
hunted down by United States soldiers and shot while resisting arrest. 

PRESIDENT JOHNSON. 

Lincoln had been re-elected President in November, 1864, and had 
begun his second term on March 4, 1865. The Vice-President chosen 
with him was Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, who now became Presi- 
dent of the United States. President Johnson, unfortunately, lacked 
Lincoln's rare tact and discretion, and soon came into direct conflict with 
the Republican majority in Congress. He was anxious to restore State 
Governments in the South as rapidly as possible. Congress insisted, 
however, upon delay. A thirteenth amendment to the Constitution was 



464 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

adopted, forever abolishing slavery, the new State of Nevada being ad- 
mitted to the Union largely for the sake of securing its vote for that 
amendment. A fourteenth amendment was proposed, the effect of which 
would be to deprive any State of a share of its representation in Con- 
gress proportionate to the share of the negro vote which was suppressed 
by the State Government. At the same time a civil rights bill was 
adopted by Congress guaranteeing negroes the rights of citizenship. 
Under such conditions all the Southern States except Virginia, Missis- 
sippi and Texas were "reconstructed" and re-admitted to the Union. 
The new State of Nebraska was also organized and admitted. 

IMPEACHMENT. 

President Johnson opposed all these acts of Congress, but they were 
passed over his veto. Finally an act was passed forbidding him to re- 
move any Federal officer from his place without the consent of the Sen- 
ate. President Johnson defied and violated this law by undertaking to 
remove Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of War. Thereupon the House of 
Representatives impeached him before the Senate for high crimes and 
misdemeanors. He was brought to trial before the Senate, the Chief 
Justice of the United States, Salmon P. Chase, presiding. A two-thirds 
vote was necessary for his conviction. The vote was taken on May 16, 
1868, and it stood 35 for conviction and 19 for acquittal. He was there- 
fore saved from impeachment by one vote. Seven of those who voted for 
acquittal were Republicans. 

The fourteenth amendment to the constitution, already referred to, 
was adopted, and so was a fifteenth, providing that no discrimination 
should be made against citizens on account of race, color, or previous 
condition of servitude. 

In October, 1867, the United States Government purchased from 
Russia the vast territory of Alaska for the sum of $7,000,000. This en- 
terprise, for which Secretary Seward was responsible, was ridiculed at the 
time as a waste of money in purchasing a frozen wilderness. Subse- 
quent developments have shown it to have been a wise and profitable act 
of statesmanship. 

In the fall of 1868 General U. S. Grant was elected President of the 
United States by an overwhelming majority against Horatio Seymour, 
his democratic opponent 



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CHAPTER XXXV. 



Death of Prince Albert— Second Schleswig-Holstein War— The Prusso- 

Austrian Invasion — Prussia Takes the Lead — The Prusso- Austrian 

War— End of the War and Terms of Peace— Austro-Hungarian 

Reorganization — The Rise of Italy— Garibaldi — Maximilian's 

Short- Lived Empire — Revolution in Spain — The Poles 

Finally Crushed— The Greek Revolution— Turkey— 

The Taipings — Cochin-China. 



THE era beginning with 1861 was a momentous one in Europe. 
It opened sadly for England, the death of Prince Albert, husband 
of Queen Victoria, occurring at the end of 1861, and the civil 
war in the United States having a disastrous effect upon English 
trade and industry. In 1865-7 England was greatly and tragically dis- 
turbed by the Eenian conspiracies, which, originating in Ireland, extended 
into England and Canada, and caused an armed invasion of the latter 
colony by a band of desperadoes from the United States. In 1864 work 
was begun on the organization of the Dominion of Canada, and in 1867 
it was completed, and the various provinces were welded into a nation. 
The Ionian Islands, which had long been under British protection and 
administration, were transferred to Greek sovereignty in 1864. In 1867-8 
occurred the British war with Abyssinia, in which a British army under 
Sir Robert Napier, afterward Lord Napier of Magdala, invaded Abys- 
sinia, stormed the capital, Magdala, liberated Englishmen from prison, 
and deposed the king without the loss of a single man. 

SECOND SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN WAR. 

Conspicuous among the great events of these years was the reopen- 
ing of the Schleswig-Holstein question, which was Otto von Bismarck's 
first step toward the aggrandizement of Prussia and the creation of the 
new German Empire. 

The treaty of London (1852) had guaranteed the unity of the Danish 
monarchy and promised the succession to Christian of Glucksburg, but 

467 



468 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

it had failed to satisfy the national aspirations of the duchies. The Ger- 
man Confederation, or Bund, which had never accepted the London 
treaty, was involved in constant disputes with Denmark about the details 
of the constitution which Frederick VII had issued in 1855. A strong 
Danish party in Copenhagen exerted its influence over the king to pre- 
vent any concessions being made to Germany, and at last, in 1863, the 
Bund determined to send an " army of execution" into the duchies. But 
Denmark was encouraged to resist by the marriage of Christian of Gliicks- 
burg's daughter, Alexandria, with the Prince of Wales (March 10, 1863), 
which seemed likely to secure the support of England. 

At this critical moment Frederick VII died, and Christian of Glucks- 
burg ascended the throne as Christian IX. But Frederick of Augusten- 
burg seized the opportunity to revive the claim to the duchies which his 
father had been compelled to renounce after the treaty of London. He 
could rely upon the sympathy of the Bund and the enthusiastic support 
of the Holsteiners. In December, 1863, tne army of the Bund entered 
Holstein and occupied the duchy without any opposition from the Danes. 
The Duke of Augustenburg was proclaimed king as Frederick VIII, 
though he left the administration to the commissioners of the Bund. 

THE PRUSSO-AUSTRIAN INVASION. 

But matters were unexpectedly complicated by the intervention of 
Austria and Prussia. The two powers had been partners to the treaty 
of London, and could not therefore adopt the same attitude as the Bund, 
but they were determined to have a decisive voice in the settlement of a 
question which was so vitally important to Germany. The Prussian 
ministry had been headed since 1862 by Bismarck, who exercised a sort 
of fascination over the Austrian minister Rechberg. Germany was as- 
tounded to see the two rival States acting in apparently complete con- 
cord. Regardless of the protests of England, the combined armies 
marched through Holstein to Schleswig, which they determined to occupy 
as a hostage until Christian IX should agree to a satisfactory settlement. 
The Danes had not defended Holstein, which was legally a member of 
the Bund, but they were resolved to hold out in Schleswig, which had no 
such connection with Germany, and which contained a large Danish popu- 
lation. But the superiority of the invading forces was too overwhelming. 
The Danes had to retire from their boasted fortification, the Dannewirke 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 469 

(February 6th), their obstinate defence of Duppel proved unavailing, 
and Fredericia surrendered (April 28th). 

An armistice was now concluded while negotiations were carried on 
in a conference at London presided over by Lord John Russell. The 
Bund demanded the complete severance of the duchies from Denmark, 
under the Duke of Augustenburg. Austria and Prussia, on the other 
hand, were willing to allow the "personal union" under the Danish 
crown to continue on condition that the duchies should receive a sepa- 
rate constitution. England, which had hitherto adhered firmly to the 
treaty of London, at last admitted that concessions must be made to 
Germany, and proposed a division of Schleswig into a Danish and a 
German half, but no agreement could be come to about the dividing, 
line, and the negotiations were broken off. The Austro-Prussian army 
renewed the war and occupied the whole peninsula of Jutland. 

Christian IX, unable to resist any longer and bitterly disappointed 
at the failure of English support, concluded the treaty of Vienna (Octo- 
ber 30, 1864). No stipulation was made as to the future fate of the 
duchies, which were simply ceded to Austria and Prussia, and the king 
pledged himself to accept any arrangement that might commend itself 
to the two powers. The troops of the Bund evacuated Holstein in 
December, and the Duke of Augustenburg discovered that his chances 
of the succession were as remote as ever. 

PRUSSIA TAKES THE LEAD. 

It was evident that the relations of Olmutz had been reversed, and 
that in the recent transactions Prussia had led and Austria had followed. 
Bismarck was determined to maintain this position and to utilize the 
ceded duchies in the interests of Prussia. Ever since his accession to 
power he had set himself to increase the military resources of his coun- 
try, and had not hesitated to avow his conviction that "blood and iron " 
would prove more effective instruments in the settlement of German 
difficulties than the speeches and votes which had failed so lamentably 
in 1849. He was encouraged in his aggressive attitude by the domestic 
troubles of Austria. Hungary and Venetia were on the verge of revolt, 
and all the non-German provinces were discontented. To conciliate 
them, the government suspended the constitution of 1861 and restored 
the old system of provincial diets. But this measure alienated the 



47° STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

German population of Austria proper and failed to satisfy the Slavs, 
Magyars and Italians. Under these circumstances it was difficult for 
Austria to oppose a resolute opposition to the designs of Prussia. The 
lesser German States tried in vain to obtain a voice in the final settle- 
ment of the duchies. Some supported the Duke of Augustenburg, 
others proposed that the choice of a ruler should be submitted to the 
free choice of the inhabitants. Bismarck received all these suggestions 
with contemptuous silence, and continued to treat the matter as a private 
affair of the two great powers. 

At Gastein a convention was made (August 14, 1865), by which 
Austria undertook to administer Holstein, and Prussia Schleswig, -while 
the small duchy of Lauenburg was sold to Prussia for 2,500,000 Danish 
thalers. The port of Kiel was occupied by Prussia, which at once com- 
menced the erection of fortifications. The convention of Gastein was 
Bismarck's revenge for the humiliation of Prussia at Olmutz. But it was 
evident that the arrangement could only be temporary, and that the rela- 
tions of the two powers in the duchies and in Germany could only be set- 
tled by war. On June 1, Austria announced that the question of Schles- 
wig-Holstein should be submitted to the Bundestag, and that a meeting 
of the estates of Holstein should be summoned to declare the wishes of 
that province. Ten days later a formal accusation was brought against 
Prussia of violating the convention of Gastein, and the mobilization of 
the troops of the Bund was demanded. Bismarck responded by bring- 
ing forward his proposal for a new constitution of the Bund, which was 
to be divided into a northern federation under Prussia and a southern 
under Bavaria, while Austria was to be excluded altogether. Manteuffel 
was ordered to occupy Holstein if the estates met, and he obeyed the 
order on June 8th. The Austrian toops were too weak to resist, and 
the duchy was annexed to Schleswig under Prussian rule. 

THE PRUSSO-AUSTRIAN WAR. 

On June 14, the Bundestag, by nine votes to six, accepted the 
Austrian demand for the mobilization of the troops. The Prussian rep- 
resentative at once declared that this resolution was a breach of the 
constitution of 18 15, pronounced the dissolution of the Bund, and quitted 
the assembly. War was declared against Saxony, Hanover and Hesse- 
Cassel, which had supported Austria. 



Mr 




1884— GEN. GORDON ON THE ROAD TO KHARTOUM 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS, 473 

The general expectation in Europe was that the war, which broke 
out on June 15, would be a long and desperate struggle, in which the 
superior resources of Austria would secure an ultimate victory. But 
these anticipations were completely falsified by the event. The Prussian 
troops were better organized than any others in Europe, and they were 
armed with the needle-gun, which enabled them to fire four or five times 
as fast as their opponents. On the other hand, Austria was in a hope- 
less financial position, its armies were composed of various nationalities, 
it had to send more than 150,000 men to defend Venetia against the 
Italians, and it had no general to be compared with the Prussian com- 
mander-in-chief, Von Moltke. In every engagement the Prussians gained 
conspicuous successes. Hesse-Cassel and Saxony were occupied with- 
out opposition. The Hanoverian army, after being defeated at Langen- 
salza, was compelled to capitulate (June 29). It was in Bohemia that 
the main armies of Austria and Prussia came Into collision. After a 
series of smaller engagements the great battle was fought on July 3 at 
Sadowa (or Koniggratz), where the Austrians were completely defeated. 

END OF THE WAR AND TERMS OF PEACE. 

On July 26 an armistice was concluded at Nikolsburg, by which 
Austria agreed to withdraw from the Bund, to renounce all claims in 
Schleswig and Holstein, to recognize the new constitution which Prussia 
was to arrange for Germany, and to cede Venetia to Italy. On August 
23 the preliminaries of Nikolsburg were confirmed by the peace of 
Prague, and Prussia undertook to restore the kingdom of Saxony, and 
to transfe'r northern Schleswig to Denmark, if the inhabitants expressed a 
wish for such a transfer. The latter provision was wholly evaded, and 
though the former was fulfilled, it was on such hard conditions that 
Saxony became little more than a vassal State of Prussia. The two 
provinces which had been occupied, Hanover and Hesse-Cassel, together 
with Schleswig-Holstein, Nassau, and Frankfort, were to remain in the 
possession of Prussia. 

Prussia now set to work to draw up the plan of a North German 
Confederation, to include all States to the north of the Main. Saxony, 
the only powerful State, was unable, in existing circumstances, to make 
any opposition. The scheme was first elaborated in a conference of 
plenipotentiaries of the various governments, and was then submitted to 
25 



474 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

an assembly chosen by universal suffrage, which sat in Berlin from Feb- 
ruary 24 to April 17, 1867. The executive government was entrusted 
to the Prussian King as hereditary President and General of the Con- 
federation. He was to be assisted by a Federal Council (Bundesrath), 
which was to be presided over by a Chancellor appointed by Prussia. 
Legislation was to be in the hands of a Reichstag, the deputies to which 
were to be chosen by direct suffrage. Contributions to the common 
military expenditure were to be regulated by the number of soldiers which 
each State supplied for the federal army. Military service was organ- 
ized on the Prussian system, and was made compulsory on every citizen 
over seventeen years of age. Bismarck was appointed to be the first 
Chancellor of the Confederation. With the chief States of southern 
Germany, Prussia was connected by the Zollverein, and special treaties 
were concluded with Bavaria, Wurtemberg and Baden, by which their 
territories were guaranteed, and their armies were placed at the dis- 
posal of Prussia in case of war. Thus the whole of Germany, with the 
exception of Austria, became practically subject to Prussian sovereignty. 

AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN RE-ORGANIZATION. 

Austria had been taught by the disasters of the war to realize how 
fatal to the Empire were the discontent and disunion of the subject popu- 
lations. Venetia was resigned almost with cheerfulness, and a serious 
effort was made to pacify Hungary. The work of conciliation was 
carried out by Count Beust, who had recently been Minister to Saxony, 
but had been compelled to quit that kingdom by the enmity of Prussia. 
The government found it necessary to restore the old system of dualism. 
Hungary received a Ministry and a Diet of its own, while another Diet 
and Ministry were created for the Provinces west of the Leitha. Joint 
delegations were to be appointed by the two Diets for the consideration 
of imperial business, and there were to be three common Ministers, for 
finance, war, and foreign affairs. This constitution, with improvements 
in detail, has been preserved to the present day. 

THE RISE OF ITALY. 

In Italy the Seven Weeks' War had produced important results. 
Before the outbreak of hostilities Austria had attempted to buy off 
Italian hostility by offering the cession of Venetia, but Victor Emanuel 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 475 

had preferred to adhere to his treaty with Prussia. As soon as the war 
began in Germany the Italian forces advanced towards the Quadrilateral 
They were divided into two armies, one of which, under Cialdini, was to 
cross the Po at Ferrara, and to cut the line of communication between 
Venice and Verona, while the other, under the King and La Marmora, 
was to invest the fortresses. The plan of the campaign was based on 
the belief that the Austrians would stand on the defensive, and all calcu- 
lations were upset when the Archduke Albert quitted his position and 
attacked the Italians. At Custozza an obstinate battle was fought 
(June 24th), and after twelve hours' fighting the Italian army was forced 
to retire to the Mincio. In July the Italian fleet was almost destroyed 
by the Austrians in the Adriatic, near the Island of Lissa. Before an 
opportunity was offered of retrieving these mortifying disasters the news 
came that the German war had been terminated at Nikolsburg, and that 
Venetia was offered for the acceptance of Italy. 

It was a great blow to Italian pride to have to receive the coveted 
province at the hands of an ally instead of winning it by the prowess of 
the national arms. But Victor Emanuel realized that it was not the 
time for excessive punctiliousness, and accepted the cession of Venetia 
by the treaty of Vienna (October 3d). The usual plebiscite was almost 
unanimous in favor of annexation, and in November the King was re- 
ceived with enthusiasm in Venice. Austria now possessed no territory 
that could be called Italian except Trieste and the small district of the 
Trentino. It was just at this time that the evacuation of Rome by the 
French was completed in accordance with the terms of the September 
Convention. The great work of freeing Italy from the foreigners seemed 
for the moment to be accomplished. But one grievance still remained, 
the independent rule of the Pope in Rome and the Patrimony, and this 
was protected by the agreement with France. The Ministry of Rattazzi 
believed that Rome could be obtained in the same way as Cavour had 
obtained the Two Sicilies. 

GARIBALDI. 

Garibaldi, the Liberator of Italy, had sought, in 1862, to set Rome 
free from the rule of the Pope. He led an expedition against that city, 
which met with some success. But he was finally vanquished by the 
French garrison of Rome at Aspromonte, and was taken prisoner. He 
was quickly liberated, however, in deference to universal sentiment, and 



47 6 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

was sent to live on his island-farm of Caprera. There he remained until 
1867, when he left Caprera and led another expedition against Rome. 
He met with victory at Monte Rotondo, but Napoleon III at once de- 
spatched a new body of French troops to defend the city which had just 
been evacuated. At Mentana (November 3, 1867) Garibaldi's raw 
levies were utterly routed by the French, and the occupation of Rome 
was resumed for an indefinite period. 

MAXIMILIAN'S SHORT-LIVED EMPIRE. 

In no country was the result of the Austro-Prussian War such an 
unwelcome surprise as in France. Napoleon III was humiliated at this 
time by events in Mexico. In 1861 France, England and Spain had 
agreed to send a joint expedition to demand satisfaction for injuries 
inflicted on their subjects by Juarez, the head of the Mexican Republic. 
The two latter powers withdrew their forces when the object of the treaty 
had been attained. But the French Emperor conceived the chimerical 
project of forming a grand empire of the Latin race in Mexico, which 
should counterbalance the power of the United States. He ordered his 
troops to conquer Mexico, which was achieved in 1863, and he offered 
the sovereignty to the Austrian Archduke, Maximilian, who accepted it in 
1864. But Maximilian quarreled with the French commander, Bazaine; 
the United States threatened to make war on the new empire, and 
Napoleon found the expense of the occupation a serious embarrassment. 
In 1866 the French troops were withdrawn, and the result was that the 
Archduke was shot by Mexican rebels in the next year. Napoleon III 
now endeavored to form a close alliance with Austria, and in August, 
1867, he paid a formal visit to the Emperor, Francis Joseph, at Salzburg. 
The visit was nominally one of condolence on the fate of the Archduke, 
Maximilian, but contemporary opinion persisted in attributing to it a 
political importance which it may not have possessed. No important re- 
sults followed the interview, but it was certain that France would seize 
the first opportunity to measure its strength against the Northern State 
which had made such a sudden stride towards the leadership in Europe. 

REVOLUTION IN SPAIN. 

It would be tedious to narrate in detail the domestic history of Spain 
under Isabella of Bourbon. The Queen sought to cloak the dissolute- 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 477 

ness of her private life by a superstitious devotion to religion and the 
church, and her personal sympathies were on the side of the clerical and 
reactionary party. But occasionally the progresistas and moderados 
forced themselves into office, though their jealous rivalry prevented them 
from maintaining the power to which their numbers entitled them. At 
last, in 1866, Isabella was induced to take energetic measures against the 
opposition. Narvaez was appointed Chief Minister, and the most promi- 
nent liberals, O'Donnell, Serrano and Prim, sought safety in exile. The 
Cortes was dissolved, and many of the Deputies, including the President, 
Rosas, were transported to the Canary Islands. A royalist reign of 
terror was established in Spain, and was continued after the death of 
Narvaez (April 1868) by his successor, Gonzalez Bravo. But the Span- 
iards were completely alienated from the Bourbon rule. They resented 
the scandals of the Court and the despotism of the contemptible ca7narilla 
of priests and courtiers who surrounded the Queen. The various sec- 
tions of the Liberal party were driven into union by their common danger. 
In September, 1868, Prim and Serrano returned to Spain, raised the 
standard of revolt, and offered the people the bribe of universal suffrage. 
The revolution was promptly effected, and Isabella fled to France. 

THE POLES FINALLY CRUSHED. 

The liberal policy of the new Czar seems to have excited great 
hopes among the Poles, and their disappointment gave rise to a formida- 
ble insurrection in 1863. For two years a desperate guerilla warfare 
was carried on against the Russian troops, but in the end order and dis- 
cipline carried the day against ill organized heroism. Prussia, which had 
never sympathized with the Poles, made an alliance with the Czar. 
England, Austria and France sought to mediate on behalf of the unfor- 
tunate nation, and to secure for Poland some of the liberties that had 
been promised in 181 5. But they did not attempt to go beyond paper 
remonstrances, which Russia treated with contempt. The rebellion was 
put down with a hideous barbarity that was disgraceful to a state which 
had just professed such solicitude for its own peasants. It was deter- 
mined to obliterate the last remnants of Polish nationality. The country 
was divided into ten provinces ; the Russian language was introduced in 
the schools, and in all public acts ; the University of Warsaw was Rus- 
sianized , the Roman Catholic religion became a luxury which only the 



478 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

rich could afford ; and to punish the nobles for their sympathy with the 
insurrection, their lands were arbitrarily handed over to the peasants. 

THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 

The Kino-dom of Greece had never thriven as its most ardent ad- 
mirers had expected. This was due partly to the defects of the Greeks 
themselves, partly to the errors of King Otho and his Bavarian advisers, 
but mainly to the attitude of the great powers. Neither Russia nor 
England really wished Greece to become a powerful State. . Russia 
dreaded a possible rival in the headship of the Greek Church, and Eng- 
land feared for her commercial supremacy in the Levant. Hence the 
defective frontier which was given to the new kingdom, and the constant 
snubs that it received from the European States. Otho, who was only 
17 years old when the crown was given to him, had assumed the per- 
sonal control of the government in 1837. Possessed of no ability, 
experience or energy, but eager to exercise an absolute authority for 
which he was unfitted, he had alienated his subjects before they had 
acquired the habits of loyalty. A revolution in 1843 compelled him to 
dismiss his Bavarian followers and to grant a constitution. When the 
Crimean war broke out, the Greeks eagerly seized the opportunity to 
attempt the annexation of Thessaly and Epirus. The King offered no 
opposition to the national movement, which was probably prompted by 
Russian influence. Regardless that by a breach of the treaties the sup- 
port of England and France would be forfeited, the government openly 
took part in the war, which had already been commenced by an insur- 
rection in the two provinces. The Turks had no difficulty in repulsing 
the invaders, whose rapacity and disorder did much to conciliate the in- 
habitants to Turkish rule. In May, 1854, English and French troops 
landed at the Piraeus and compelled the King to abandon the Russian ak 
liance. From this time the Bavarian monarchy forfeited all hold upon 
the respect or affection of Greece. 

The Italian war of 1859 evoked the warmest sympathy among the 
Greeks, while Otho and his court did not disguise their attachment to 
Austria. To put down the growing opposition, the King endeavored to 
tamper with the constitution. Newspapers were suppressed, intimida- 
tion and corruption were employed to influence the elections, and the 
Senate was packed with royal nominees. In 1862 a rebellion broke out 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 479 

while the King and Queen were on a tour through the country. On 
returning to Athens they found the city closed against them, and quitted 
Greece under the protection of the English flag. Otho, who never aban- 
doned his pretensions to the throne, died at Bamberg in 1867. Mean- 
while a provisional government was established, and a national assembly 
was summoned to elect a new king and to frame a new constitution. 
The assembly refused to take the responsibility of the election, and en- 
trusted it to a national vote. By an overwhelming majority the crown 
was offered to the English Prince Alfred (the Duke of Edinburgh). But 
the great powers had agreed that no member of the ruling families of 
France, Russia or Great Britain should ascend the throne of Greece, and 
the election was annulled. England now undertook to find a constitu- 
tional king, but discovered that the vacant throne was not an object of 
ambition to European princes. At last Prince William George of Den- 
mark, the second son of Christian IX, and brother of the Princess of 
Wales, was selected, and was acknowledged by the Greeks as George I. 
In order to conciliate the Greeks to their new sovereign, England re- 
signed the Ionian Islands to Greece in 1864. 

TURKEY. 

In Turkey, Abdul Medjid died in 1861, and was succeeded by Abdul 
Aziz. The promises which the Sultan had made in the treaty of Paris 
shared the fate of most Turkish promises. The fact was that the des- 
potism of the Sultan no longer existed except in name. Turkey was 
practically ruled by an official oligarchy, and the personal will of the 
nominal ruler counted for very little when it clashed with the interests of 
the dominant class. A series of revolts in the Christian provinces at- 
tested the continuance of Turkish oppression and of the discontent 
which it could hardly fail to provoke. The most important of these re- 
volts before 1875 was tnat °f Crete (1 866-1 868), which was almost 
openly countenanced by the Greek government. Diplomatic relations 
between Constantinople and Athens were broken off, and war would 
probably have ensued if the European powers had not stepped in to 
compel Greece to observe a strict neutrality. The insurrection was put 
down in 1868 mainly by the exertions of Hobart Pasha, an English naval 
officer who had entered the Turkish service, and Crete, with some norni 
nal concessions, returned to its former servitude. 



480 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

THE TAIPINGS. 

The great Taiping rebellion in China, which had long been in pro- 
gress, which had cost millions of lives, and had threatened the existence 
of the Tartar dynasty, was finally brought to an end in 1864 through 
the genius of the illustrious Charles Gordon, who took command of the 
mob-like Chinese forces and marshalled them into the " Ever Victor- 
ious Army." 

Two years later a peaceful revolution was effected in Japan by the 
abolition of the Shogunate and the assumption by the Mikado of actual 
as well as nominal authority. 

COCHIN CHINA. 

The French aggressions in Annam, or Cochin China, which had 
begun in the preceding century, were renewed in 1862, when three prov- 
inces of Cochin China were ceded to France by the Emperor of Annam. 
In 1867 two more provinces were thus ceded, and it became evident 
that the whole Annamese Empire was destined to become a French 
possession. 

Russia, meanwhile, was busy with her conquests in Central Asia, 
establishing in 1868 her rule over Samarkand and Bokhara. 

The year 1866 was marked in Europe by a revolution in Roumania. 
Prince Couza was expelled, and Prince Charles of Hohenzollern, a rela- 
tive of the King of Prussia, was chosen in his place. At this time 
Roumania was erected in a practically independent principality. 

A long-continued war between Brazil and Paraguay, or against the 
Dictator of the latter State, came to an indecisive end in 1867. 



CHAPTER XXXVI, 



Discovery of the Victoria Nile by Speke and Grant — Livingstone's 

Return — Another Expedition— Interests of Various 

Lands — Necrology. 



THE progress of African exploration led to further researches 
by Speke and Grant, who had already distinguished themselves 
in the equatorial regions. In 1862 they discovered and ex- 
plored for some distance the so-called Victoria Nile. Two years 
later Sir Samuel Baker filled up another large spot on the map by 
his discovery of Albert Nyanza, the second of the great lakes of that 
part of Africa. 

The veteran Livingstone was meantime busy extending the sphere 
of his great work further south. In a former chapter we left him on 
the River Rovuma. After exploring that stream for 30 miles in his 
new vessel the " Pioneer," Livingstone and the missionaries proceeded 
up the Shire to Chibisa. There they found the slave trade rampant, 
desolating the country and paralyzing all effort. On July 15, 1861, 
Livingstone, accompanied by several native carriers, started to show 
the Bishop the country. Several bands of slaves whom they met were 
liberated, and after seeing the missionary party settled in the high- 
lands of Magomero to the south of Lake Shirwa, Livingstone spent 
from August to November in exploring Lake Nyassa. While the 
boat sailed up the west side of the lake to near the north end, the 
explorer marched along the shore. He returned more resolved than 
ever to do his utmost to rouse the civilized world to put down the 
desolating slave-trade. On January 30, 1862, at the Zambesi mouth, 
Livingstone welcomed his wife and the ladies of the mission, with 
whom were the sections of the "Lady Nyassa," a river steamer which 
Livingstone had had built at his own expense, absorbing most of the 
profits of his book, and for which he never got any allowance. When 
the mission ladies reached the mouth of the Ruo tributary of the 
Shire, they were stunned to hear of the death of the Bishop and ol 

481 



482 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

Mr. Burrup. This was a sad blow to Livingstone, seeming to have 
rendered all his efforts to establish a mission futile. A still greater 
loss to him was that of his wife at Shupanga, on April 27, 1862. 

LIVINGSTONE'S RETURN. 

The "Lady Nyassa" was taken to the Rovuma. Up this river 
Livingstone managed to steam 156 miles, but further progress was 
arrested by rocks. Returning to Zambesi in the beginning of 1863, 
he found that the desolation caused by the slave trade was more 
horrible and widespread than ever. It was clear that Portuguese 
officials were themselves at the bottom of the traffic. Kirk and Charles 
Livingstone being compelled to return to England on account of their 
health, the Doctor resolved once more to visit the lake, and proceeded 
some distance up the west side and then north-west as far as the 
water-shed that separates the Loangwa from the rivers that run into 
the lake. Meanwhile a letter was received from Earl Russell recall- 
ing the expedition by the end of the year. In the end of April 1864 
Livingstone reached Zanzibar in the "Lady Nyassa," and on the 30th 
he set out with nine natives and four Europeans for Bombay, which 
was reached after an adventurous voyage of a month, and on July 23 
Livingstone arrived in England. He was naturally disappointed with 
the results of this expedition, all its leading objects being thwarted 
through no blame of his. For the unfortunate disagreements which 
occurred and for which he was blamed in some quarters, he must be 
held acquitted, as he was by the authorities at home ; though it is not 
necessary to maintain that Livingstone was exempt from the trying 
effects on the temper of African fever, or from the intolerance of 
lukewarmness which belongs to all exceptionally strong natures. Still 
the results at the time, and especially those of the future, were great. 
The geographical results, though not in extent to be compared to those 
of his first and final expeditions, were of high importance, as were 
those in various departments of science. Details will be found in his 
" Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries," 
published in 1865. 

ANOTHER EXPEDITION. 

By Murchison and his other staunch friends Livingstone was as 
warmly welcomed as ever. When Murchison proposed to him that he 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 483 

should go out again, although he seems to have had a desire to spend 
the remainder of his days at home, the prospect was too tempting to 
be rejected. He was appointed H. M. consul to central Africa with- 
out a salary, and the Government contributed only ^500 to the ex- 
pedition. The chief help came from private friends. During the 
latter part of the expedition the Government granted him ^1000, but 
that, when he learned of it, was devoted to his great undertaking. 
The Geographical Society contributed ^500. The two main objects 
of the expedition were the suppression of slavery by means of civil- 
izing influences, and the ascertainment of the water-shed in the region 
between Nyassa and Tanganyika. At first Livingstone thought the 
Nile problem had been all but solved by Speke, Baker, and Burton, 
but the idea grew upon him that the Nile sources must be sought 
farther south, and his last journey became in the end a forlorn hope 
in search of the "fountains" of Herodotus. Leaving England in the 
middle of August 1865, via Bombay, Livingstone arrived at Zanzibar 
on January 28, 1866. He was landed at the mouth of the Rovuma 
on March 22, and started for the interior on April 4. His company 
consisted of thirteen Sepoys, ten Johanna men, nine African boys from 
Nassick school, Bombay, and four boys from Shire region, besides 
camels, buffaloes, mules, and donkeys. This imposing outfit soon 
melted away to four or five boys. Rounding the south end of Lake 
Nyassa, Livingstone struck in a north-north-west direction for the south 
end of Lake Tanganyika, over country much of which had not previ- 
ously been explored. The Loangwa was crossed on December 15, 
and on Christmas day Livingstone lost his four goats, a loss which he 
felt very keenly, and the medicine chest was stolen in January 1868. 
Fever came upon him, and for a time was his almost constant com- 
panion ; this, with the fearful dysentery and dreadful ulcers and other 
ailments which subsequently attacked him, and which he had no medi- 
cine to counteract, no doubt told fatally on even his iron frame. The 
Chambeze was crossed on January 28, and the south end of Tang- 
anyika reached March 31. Here, much to his vexation, he got into 
the company of Arab slave-dealers, by whom his movements were 
hampered ; but he succeeded in reaching Lake Moero. After visiting 
Lake Mofwa and the Lualaba, which he believed was the upper part 
of the Nile, he, on July 18, discovered Lake Bangweolo. Proceeding 



484 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

up the west coast of Tanganyika, he reached Ujiji on March 14, 1869, 
" a ruckle of bones." Supplies had been forwarded to him at Ujiji, 
but had been knavishly made away with by those to whose care they 
had been entrusted. 

INTERESTS OF VARIOUS LANDS. 

A number of important incidents in the years now under con- 
sideration must be touched upon briefly in passing. In 1861 the 
government of the republic of Santo Domingo was transferred to 
Spain by Santana, an arrangement which did not last long. In 1862 
another great International Exhibition was opened in London, which 
proved highly successful, despite the disturbance of commerce and in- 
dustry caused by the civil war in the United States. 

In 1864 was formed the International Association of Working- 
men, commonly known as the International, and for years dreaded by 
European Governments as the incarnation of revolutionary ideas and 
tendencies. It held its first Congress at Geneva in 1866, and adopted 
the Socialistic rules prepared by Karl Marx. 

In the latter year trans-atlantic telegraphy between the United 
States and Great Britain was successfully and permanently re-estab- 
lished, and since that date has never been interrupted. From time to 
time since then new cables have been laid, until now there are several 
between the United States and Great Britain, one between the United 
States and France, and one, finished in 1900, between the United 
States and Germany. 

Another International Exhibition was held in Paris in 1867, in 
which the splendor of Louis Napoleon's empire reached its climax. 

NECROLOGY. 

The death roll included in 1863 Jacob Grimm, the great German 
philologist and antiquary, and William Makepeace Thackeray, the 
illustrious English novelist and satirist. The next year saw the 
deaths of Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of America's best novelists, 
Meyerbeer, the musician, and Landor, the poet and essayist. Victor 
Cousin, the French philosopher, and Faraday, the scientist, died in 1867, 
and Rossini, the composer, and Brougham, the British statesman and 
man of letters, in 1868. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



Ulysses S. Grant becomes President of the United States— Santo Do- 
mingo—Treaty of Washington— San Juan Boundary — Grant's 
Re-election— Indian Troubles— The Centennial State- 
Financial Troubles — The Disputed Election. 



ULYSSES S. GRANT became President of the United States on 
March 4, 1869, and Schuyler Colfax at the same time became 
Vice-President. The nation was then at peace and in a highly 
prosperous condition. The Civil War had, it is true, prostrated 
the Southern States, but these were now rapidly rising into renewed 
prosperity. The North, on the other hand, had received a great indus- 
trial stimulus. In fact, the chief trouble was too great inflation of busi- 
ness, from which there was danger of a reaction. The population of the 
United States was now more than 38,000,000, and manufactures had 
doubled in value since the outbreak of the war. 

The fifteenth amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting the States 
from denying to any citizen the right to vote on account of race, color or 
previous condition of servitude, was adopted in February, 1869, just 
before Grant's inauguration, but was not formally proclaimed until 
March 30th, and thus went into force practically at the same time with 
the beginning of his administration. This intensified the political trouble 
in the Southern States, where the "carpet-bag" governments were now 
in full sway. In some States rival governments were set up, and civil 
war was prevented only by the maintenance of garrisons of United States 
troops. 

As a protest against Federal interference, the former secessionists 
at the South, who had how received full amnesty and were entitled to 
hold office again, organized a secret league known as the Ku Klux Klan. 
This body, by systematic flogging and murdering of negroes and white 
Republicans, established a reign of terror in several States, and was 
enabled to control the elections in accordance with its wishes. When at 
last this lawless body was suppressed, "tissue ballots" and other forms 

485 



486 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

of electoral corruption were resorted to to nullify the negro vote and 
give political power to those who had exercised it before the war. This 
condition of affairs was maintained all through Grant's administration, 
and ended in the triumph of the white party. During this administration, 
too, the last of the seceding States was reconstructed and received back 
into the Union. 

SANTO DOMINGO. 

The purchase of Alaska by the preceding administration had aroused 
the old time American spirit of territorial expansion, and President Grant 
soon felt its force. The affairs of the island of Santo Domingo had long 
been in an unsettled state. The republic of Hayti was suffering a negro 
despotism. The Dominican Republic was no better off. It had been 
given to Spain, and then restored to independence, but was manifestly 
unfit for self-government. At me same time it was a valuable country, 
and its position on the map was one of vast strategic importance, both for 
commerce and military defence. 

Early in his administration President Grant was approached by 
President Baez, of Dominica, with a proposition for the annexation of the 
latter country to the United States. President Grant was favorably 
impressed with the scheme, as were his Cabinet officers. Indeed, the 
best sentiment of the nation was decidedly in favor of it. A treaty of 
annexation was therefore negotiated and laid before the Senate for ratifi- 
cation. But there was in the Senate a certain clique of men, of the 
President's own party, led by Charles Sumner, who were intensely hostile 
to Grant, largely on personal grounds. They accordingly opposed the 
treaty, and, after a bitter contest, defeated it. This was the beginning of 
what ultimately became an open rupture in the Republican party. Later, 
President Grant negotiated with the Danish Government for the purchase 
of the three West India Islands belonging to Denmark. The Danish 
Government was willing to sell, the people of the islands were unan- 
imously in favor of being transferred to the United States, and the islands 
were recognized to be of great value. But the same influences prevailed 
in the Senate, and just for the sake of spiting the President the scheme 
was defeated. 

TREATY OF WASHINGTON. 

Grant's administration was signalized by one great diplomatic 
triumph, which resulted in the establishment of international arbitration 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 487 

as a practical method of settling disputes between nations. The injuries 
inflicted upon American commerce by the "Alabama " and other Con- 
federate privateers has already been mentioned. Most of the vessels 
were built or fitted out in England, and the United States Government 
held that the British Government had thus permitted violations of the 
neutrality laws, and was therefore to be held accountable for the losses 
inflicted by the privateers. 

After considerable discussion the United States suggested, and the 
British Government agreed, to submit the whole matter to a court of 
arbitration. This was done under a treaty signed at Washington on 
May 8, 187 1, and known as the Treaty of Washington. 

The international tribunal of arbitration met at Geneva, Switzerland. 
Both the parties to the suit were represented by the ablest of their 
counsel, and the case was tried in great detail and with impartial 
thoroughness. The verdict was announced on September 14, 1872. 
It was to the effect that the British Government was culpable, and that it 
must pay the United States $15,500,000 damages. This verdict was 
unhesitatingly acquiesced in by both nations. It may be said to have 
marked an era in diplomacy, for it was the first great example of such 
settlement of such a dispute. From that example have followed many 
subsequent cases of arbitration, including the great scheme for a 
permanent international court formulated at the close of the century. 

SAN JUAN BOUNDARY. 

At about the same time another dispute between the two countries 
was also submitted to arbitration. This had to do with the boundary 
between the United States and the British possessions in North America 
at the extreme north-west, and involved the possession of certain islands 
and the control of the entrance to Puget Sound. The case was submitted 
to the German Emperor as an umpire, and after mature deliberation he, 
on October 21, 1872, gave his decision in accordance with the American 
claims. This decision was also accepted as final by both parties. 

GRANT'S RE-ELECTION. 

The year 1872 saw the culmination of the Republican revolt against 
President Grant. In that year a secession from that party occurred, 
under the name of the Liberal Republicans. The latter charged the 



4 gg STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

Grant administration with corruption, and with an illiberal policy toward 
the Southern States. It nominated as its candidate for the Presidency 
Horace Greeley, editor of "The New York Tribune," who had formerly 
been one of Grant's most earnest supporters. For Vice-President they 
nominated Frank P. Blair, who was one of the men already mentioned 
who kept Missouri from seceding from the Union in 1861. The Demo- 
crats, realizing the demoralized condition of their party and the impossi- 
bility of winning the election by themselves, contented themselves with 
also nominating Greeley, the man who had always been their bitterest 
opponent, and whom they had themselves most bitterly opposed. The 
Republicans renominated Grant by acclamation, with Henry Wilson, of 
Massachusetts, as candidate for Vice-President. 

The campaign was one of exceptional intensity and excitement. It 
resulted in an overwhelming victory for Grant and Wilson. Mr. Greeley 
broke down his health by his extraordinary labors in the campaign, and 
died a few weeks after the election, mourned by the whole nation as one 
of the most illustrious men of his age. President Grant, his successful 
rival, was conspicuous among the mourners who followed his bier. 

INDIAN TROUBLES. 

In the fall of 1872 a war broke out with the Modoc Indian tribes, 
which lasted for some months and cost many lives. The tribe was deci- 
mated and its remnant surrendered in 1873. 

In 1876 occurred one of the most disastrous Indian wars of recent 
years. An outbreak by the Sioux, provoked by bad faith on the part of 
United States officials, led to the sending of General Custer to restore 
order. Custer was one of the most distinguished cavalry officers in the 
United States army, and he had with him a large body of veteran troops. 
They were, however, led into an ambush, and after a desperate conflict 
were killed to the last man. Other troops were hurried to the scene, and 
the Sioux were finally subdued. 

THE CENTENNIAL STATE. 

The Territory of Colorado was found to be rich in mines of gold 
and silver, as well as in agricultural resources. Its population rap- 
idly increased, and by 1876 it was deemed worthy of Statehood. In that 
year, accordingly, it was admitted to the Union as a State, and has since 




1889— EIFFEL TOWER— WORLD'S FAIR, PARIS 




JOHN PHILIP S0U5A 



1890— NOTED MUSIC COMPOSERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 49 1 

been known as the Centennial State, since it was admitted just a hundred 
years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 

FINANCIAL TROUBLES. 

The year 1873 was marked by widespread financial troubles through- 
out the world, and especially in the United States. They were here 
caused by a reaction from the inflation of business at the close of the war, 
and also by the unsettled state of the national currency. One of the 
greatest panics on record swept over the land, and for years thereafter 
business suffered serious depression. These circumstances seriously 
affected the course of political events in the closing years of Grant's term. 

Nor was the Administration free from political scandals, though the 
President himself was doubtless free from all blame. One of these was 
in connection with the administration of Indian affairs, it being found that 
the Federal Indian agents were largely guilty of gross frauds upon both 
the Government and the Indians. Another was known as the Credit 
Mobilier case, and concerned the connection of Federal officials and 
members of Congress with a corporation of that name chartered to pro- 
mote the building of the Pacific railroad. It appeared that some mem- 
bers of Congress had accepted gifts of stock, intended as bribes to influ- 
ence their action in legislation. Again, in March, 1873, Congress raised 
the salary of the President from $25,000 to $50,000, and the salaries of 
many other public officers, including all Senators and Representatives in 
Congress. The increase in Congressional salaries was made to date 
back two years. This scandalous performance was known as the "salary 
grab," and it was regarded with so much popular odium that the next 
year the act was repealed and all salaries were reduced to their former 
figure except that of the President. In 1872 a combination of distillers 
was formed in St. Louis for the purpose of defrauding the Government 
of internal revenue taxes on whiskey. This "whiskey ring," as it was 
called, was exposed in 1875 an d some Government officials were found 
to be involved in it. More than two hundred persons were indicted as a 
result of the vigorous prosecution which President Grant ordered. 

THE DISPUTED ELECTION. 

The Presidential election of 1876 was the most memorable in the 

history of the country. The Republican candidates for President and 
26 



492 STORY Ob ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

Vice-President were Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, and William A. 
Wheeler, of New York. The Democratic candidates were Samuel J. 
Tilden, of New York, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. After an 
exciting campaign the result was found to be in doubt. The election 
turned upon the votes of South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana. In 
those States there were rival Governments and rival returning boards, 
and so conflicting sets of returns were forwarded to Washington. Be- 
yond doubt there was much corruption on both sides, and the full truth 
of the situation will never be known. For months the land was con- 
vulsed with excitement, and there would have been serious danger of 
civil war had a man less firm and less wise than Grant been in the Presi- 
idential chair. 

After long deliberations, Congress — of which the Senate was Re- 
publican and the House of Representatives Democratic — decided to sub- 
mit the disputed returns to an electoral commission, composed of five 
Senators, five Representatives, and five Justices of the Supreme Court. 
The Senators chosen were Republicans, the Representatives were 
Democrats, and the Justices were supposed to be impartial in politics. 
It was found, however, that on all decisive issues three of the Justices 
voted with the Republican Senators, and two with the Democratic Repre- 
sentatives. This division gave the Republicans eight and the Democrats 
seven votes in the commission. Accordingly Hayes and Wheeler were 
declared to have been elected, and they were duly inducted into office. 
This settlement of the case was acquiesced in by the Democrats, but the 
justice of it was never entirely conceded. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



Irish Church Disestablished— Irish Land Act— Revolution in Spain — French 
Quarrel with Prussia — Beginning of the War — German Conquest of 
France — The French Republic— Siege of Paris— Surrender— Terms 
of Peace — The Commune— Strength of the Republic — The 
German Empire — Conference on the Black Sea — British 
Affairs — Gladstone and Disraeli — Ashantee War — Em- 
press of India — The Suez Canal Shares — Occupa- 
tion of Rome — King' Amadeus — Germany and 
the Vatican — Emancipation in Brazil. 



SCARCELY had the British Parliament reassembled, in 1868, when 
the Earl of Derby retired through ill-health, and was succeeded in 
the Premiership by Mr. Disraeli. Amidst the excitement of a new 
and fierce conflict on the proposal made by Mr. Gladstone for the 
disestablishment of the Irish Church, the measures of reform were com- 
pleted (at least for the present) by the passing of Reform Bills for Scot- 
land and Ireland, and an act for the better trial of controverted elections. 
The last Parliament elected under the Reform Act of 1832 was dissolved 
on November 11, 1; 



IRISH CHURCH DISESTABLISHED. 

The elections in November were virtually an appeal to the people 
on the question of the disestablishment of the Irish Church ; and the 
result was so decisive that Mr. Disraeli resigned without waiting for the 
meeting of Parliament (December 2d), and Mr. Gladstone became Prime 
Minister (December 9th). In the Eighth Parliament of Queen Victoria 
(the twentieth of the United Kingdom), which met next day, the Ministry 
had a majority of more than one hundred. In July, 1869, the connection 
between the churches of England and Ireland was dissolved. The latter 
was disestablished and disendowed. Its temporalities were vested in 
three commissioners, with reservation of existing interests. A large sum 

493 



494 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

was granted to the Roman Catholic College of Maynooth, and to such of 
the Protestant dissenters as were recipients of the royal grant called 
regium donum. In the same session imprisonment for debt (except as a 
means of enforcing the judgments of county courts) was abolished in the 
United Kingdom, and three years later in Ireland. 

4 

IRISH LAND ACT. 

In 1870 Mr. Gladstone took the second step in his Irish policy by 
the Land Act, which provided for the compensation of outgoing tenants, 
and for loans to landlords for improvements, and to tenants desiring to 
purchase their holdings. Courts of arbitration were established for the 
settlement of all claims ; and the freedom of contract between landlord 
and tenant was so far limited as to nullify all agreements in contravention 
of the purpose of the act. The same session is memorable for establish- 
ing a system of national education in England by means of elective school 
boards. In these schools all religious creeds were forbidden. A similar 
measure passed for Scotland in 1872. The year before all religious tests 
for degrees and offices (except those of an ecclesiastical nature) in the 
English Universities had been abolished. 

REVOLUTION IN SPAIN. 

In a former chapter we left Spain in the midst of a revolutionary 
era. Queen Isabella II had been expelled. But the leaders of the 
movement were not republicans, and they at once looked round for a 
Prince to fill the vacant throne. There were three Bourbon candidates, 
Alfonso, Isabella's son; the Duke of Montpensier, husband of the Queen's 
sister ; and Don Carlos, the representative of the legal claims of the 
male line. But no one of them was acceptable to the people or to their 
leaders, and it was necessary to seek a foreign ruler. Serrano was 
appointed Regent during the interregnum, and Prim undertook the office 
of Minister of War. The Cortes drew up a newconstitution, by which 
a hereditary king was to rule in conjunction with a Senate and a popular 
chamber. The "Iberian" party wished to unite the whole peninsula by 
the election of the King of Portugal, but he refused to entertain the pro- 
posal. At last it was decided to offer the crown to Leopold, of Hohen- 
zollern-Sigmaringen, belonging to a distant branch of the royal family of 
Prussia. The Prince expressed his personal willingness to accept the 




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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



497 



offer, but, as a Prussian subject, he demanded and obtained the approval 
of William I. 

FRENCH QUARREL WITH PRUSSIA. 

The Prince of Hohenzollern was connected with the Bonaparte 
family, as his father had married Antoinette Murat, and it was hoped 
that his candidature would therefore be acceptable to the French 
Emperor. But Napoleon III represented the whole affair as an intrigue 
of Bismarck to extend the authority of Prussia in Europe. To satisfy 
him the Prince withdrew his acceptance of the Spanish crown (July 12th). 
But Napoleon and the Ollivier Ministry were convinced that a war was 
the only means of reviving the waning attachment of the people of the 
empire. A plebiscite in 1869 had approved a new constitution, but the 
increased number of negative votes had been very significant. They 
were encouraged by the belief that the States of southern Germany were 
jealous of Prussian ascendancy, and would welcome the prospect of 
recovering their independence. The French Envoy, Benedetti, was 
instructed to demand a promise from the Prussian King that, if Spain 
again pressed the Hohenzollern candidate, he would interpose his 
authority to prohibit it. William I courteously but firmly refused to give 
any such pledge. On July 19th France declared war against Prussia, and 
the streets of Paris resounded with the cries of a Berlin ! For the 
moment the empire seemed to be stronger and more popular than at 
any time since its establishment. 

BEGINNING OF THE WAR. 

All the hopes that had been based upon German disunion were 
speedily disappointed. The North German Confederation placed the 
whole of its forces at the disposal of Prussia, and voted one hundred and 
twenty million thalers for the expenses of the war ; the Southern States 
hastened to fulfill the obligations imposed by the treaties of 1867. More 
than 440,000 men were placed in the field under the nominal command of 
the King, but the real direction of Von Moltke. The Crown Prince, 
Prince Frederick Charles, and Steinmetz, were the chief leaders of divi- 
sions. The command of the French army was assumed by Napoleon in 
person, his chief marshals being Leboeuf, Bazaine, MacMahon and 
Canrobert. The regency in Paris was entrusted to the Empress Eugenie. 



498 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

The first action was fought at Saarbruck (August 3d), where the young 
Prince Imperial underwent his " baptism of fire." 

GERMAN CONQUEST OF FRANCE. 

From this moment events marched with a rapidity that astounded 
Europe. In every engagement the Germans showed an immense superi- 
ority in everything but personal bravery. The French fought with con- 
spicuous courage, but they had to contend against superior arms and 
superior generalship. They were the first in the field and ought to have 
taken the aggressive. Their delay allowed the Germans to enter Alsace, 
and to carry on the war on French soil. MacMahon was defeated at 
Weissemburg (August 3d), and again at Worth (August 6th). General 
Frossard was driven from the heights of Spicheren by the army of Fred- 
erick Charles and Steinmetz (August 6th). The main force of the 
French was now concentrated near Metz under Bazaine, while MacMahon, 
who had been wounded at Worth, retreated to Chalons. At Gravelotte 
a bloody and decisive victory was gained by the Germans (August 18th), 
and Bazaine shut himself up in Metz. Frederick Charles was entrusted 
with the blockade of the fortress, while the rest of the German army 
under the Crown Prince advanced upon Paris. MacMahon was now 
ordered by the Emperor to march from Chalons to relieve Metz. At 
Sedan the French were completely defeated (September 1st), and on the 
next day the whole army capitulated. Napoleon himself became a pris- 
oner and was sent to Wilhelmshohe, in Cassel. 

THE FREPCH REPUBLIC. 

The news of these crushing disasters overthrew the French Empire. 
The Empress Eugenie fled to England ; a " Government of national de- 
fence" was formed by the Deputies of Paris, and the Republic was for- 
mally proclaimed (September 4th). A Ministry was appointed, of which 
the leading spirits were Jules Favre, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and 
Gambetta, Minister of the Interior. The Senate was abolished, and the 
Corps Legislatif was dissolved. The defence of the capital was left in 
the hands of General Trochu, who had been appointed by the regent be- 
fore her flight. M. Thiers, who had no Republican sympathies, and who 
had refused a place in the Provisional Government, undertook an in- 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 499 

formal embassy to the European sovereigns to request their mediation 
on behalf of France. 

SIEGE OF PARIS. 

Meanwhile the advance of the Germans continued. On September 
20th Paris was invested ; on the 28th Strasburg surrendered ; and finally, 
on October 28th Bazaine capitulated at Metz, and 150,000 French troops, 
including three marshals, 50 generals and nearly 6000 officers became pris- 
oners of war. Gambetta, who had escaped from Paris in a balloon, or- 
ganized the "army of the Loire," which carried on a desperate but hope- 
less resistance to the invaders. Paris held out with obstinate courao-e, 
though the inhabitants were compelled to feed on vermin to escape 
starvation. To add to the general distress, the Communists organized 
an emeute under Flourens, Blanqui, etc., which almost succeeded in over- 
throwing the government, but was ultimately put down by the national 
guard. In the provinces the Germans carried all before them in a num- 
ber of local engagements. Garibaldi offered his services and came as 
far as Besancon, but it was too late to effect anything. Gambetta' s army 
of the Loire was practically destroyed. The only place besides the capi- 
tal which held out was the fortress of Belfort in Alsace. 

SURRENDER. 

At last the condition of Paris made it imperative to come to terms, 
and the preliminaries of a peace were arranged by Bismarck and Jules 
Favre at Versailles. An armistice was concluded for three weeks, and 
all military operations were to cease except those in the Jura and the 
siege of Belfort ; a National Assembly was to meet at Bordeaux to settle 
the terms of peace. The forts of Paris were to be placed in the hands 
of the Germans, but they were to be excluded from the city ; the garri- 
son was to surrender as prisoners of war, except 12,000 men, who were 
left to maintain order ; the blockade was to continue, but measures were 
arranged for supplying food to the citizens. The capitulation raised a 
feeling of bitter indignation in the provinces, and Gambetta announced 
his determination to continue the war in defiance of the armistice. But 
Jules Simon was dispatched to Bordeaux to prohibit this useless quixotism, 
and Gambetta in disgust resigned his place in the Ministry. The Assem- 
bly met at Bordeaux on February 12th and elected M. Thiers as "head 
of the Executive Government of the French Republic." 



500 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

TERMS OF PEACE. 

The veteran politician, whose services to his country in the moment 
of disaster outweighed any errors of his previous career, at once under- 
took the difficult task of securing the best possible terms from Bis- 
marck. The preliminaries were signed on February 26th. France ceded 
the whole of Alsace except Belfort (which had surrendered on February 
1 6th), and the greater part of Lorraine, including the fortresses of Metz 
and Thionville. The indemnity was fixed at five milliards of francs, to be 
paid within three years. The German army of occupation was to be 
withdrawn gradually as each instalment of the indemnity was paid, and 
while it remained, was to be supported at the expense of France. The 
National Assembly accepted the terms by 546 votes to 107, and the final 
treaty of Frankfort was signed on May 10, 1871. 

THE COMMUNE. 

The third French Republic was not established without a desperate 
struggle against a worse foe than Germany. Scarcely had Paris emerged, 
stricken and worn, from the German siege than the mob of the streets 
arose against the government of M. Thiers and proclaimed a Commune, 
based on the principles of the Reign of Terror of 1793. The Arch- 
bishop and other priests were murdered in cold blood, churches and 
public buildings were wantonly destroyed, and anarchy prevailed. The 
Republican Government had to conduct a regular siege to regain posses- 
sion of the city, their own seat of Government meanwhile being at Ver- 
sailles. At last the Commune was suppressed at a fearful cost, and the 
leaders of it put to death or sent into exile, from which they were not 
permitted to return for many years. 

STRENGTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 

The third French Republic was established at a period of national 
humiliation unparalleled since the fifteenth century, but it has achieved 
greater permanence than either of its predecessors. Napoleon III took 
up his residence at Chiselhurst, where he died in January, 1873. The 
death of his unfortunate son, the Prince Imperial, in South Africa (June 
1, 1879) seems to have rendered hopeless any project of another Bona- 
partist restoration. The Royalist party also suffered from the discord 
between the elder Bourbons and the house of Orleans. To these causes 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 5OI 

and the popular desire for rest, the Republic has undoubtedly owed much 
of its strength. The first President, Mr. Thiers, held office until May 
24, 1873, when a hostile vote of the Assembly led to his resignation, and 
he was replaced by Marshal MacMahon. In 1875 a new Republican 
constitution was drawn up which created two chambers, an elective Sen- 
ate and a Chamber of Deputies. As the President showed an inclina- 
tion to a reactionary policy, the Republicans formed a strong opposition. 
In 1878 MacMahon resigned, and M. Jules Grevy was chosen as his 
successor. 

THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 

In Germany the result of the war was to give a great impulse to- 
ward the establishment of unity under Prussian headship. The work 
which the Parliament of Frankfort had failed to carry out in the revolu- 
tionary period was easily accomplished at the time when Germans were 
fighting side by side for a common fatherland. Bismarck was enabled 
to sweep away the unnatural line of the Main and to extend the Confed- 
eration of 1867 over the four States of Southern Germany. The terms 
of union were settled in separate negotiations with the Governments of 
Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Baden and Grand-ducal Hesse. They were then 
submitted for formal approval to the estates of each province and to the 
Diet of the North German Confederation. On January 18, 1871, the 
veteran King of Prussia was formally proclaimed German Emperor in 
the great Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Bismarck, the Cavour of Ger- 
many, was appointed Imperial Chancellor. 

CONFERENCE ON THE BLACK SEA, 

Another consequence of the war was that Russia, supported by 
Prince Bismarck, denounced the clause of the treaty of 1856, which for- 
bade her keeping a fleet in the Black Sea. A conference of the great 
powers at London, while releasing Russia from that engagement, placed 
on record, as an essential principle of the law of nations, that no power 
can liberate itself from the engagements of a treaty, nor modify its stipu- 
lations, without the consent of the contracting parties (January, 1871). 

BRITISH AFFAIRS. 

On February 27, 1872, a service of public thanksgiving was cele- 
brated at St. Paul's, attended by the Queen and royal family, for the 



502 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

recovery of the Prince of Wales from a dangerous illness, in December, 
1 87 1. The sympathy expressed by all classes on this occasion was so 
decided a proof in favor of hereditary monarchy, that it served as a timely 
check on some rash exhibitions of theoretical republicanism. The 
secret ballot in parliamentary elections, so long advocated by the Radical 
party, was adopted in the same year. 

GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI. 

On the reassembling of Parliament in 1873 Mr. Gladstone intro- 
duced his Irish University Bill ; but it failed to conciliate the Catholics, 
and was defeated by 287 to 284 on the second reading (March nth). 
The Gladstone Ministry resigned ; but they returned to office on the 
20th, as Mr. Disraeli declined to undertake the government with the 
existing House of Commons. The attempt at Irish university reform 
was not renewed ; but religious tests were abolished in Trinity College, 
Dublin (May). The great act of the session was the constitution of a 
Supreme Court of Judicature, which came into effect (with some subse- 
quent alterations) on November 1, 1875. On that date the ancient 
Courts of Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, as well as 
those of Chancery, of Admiralty, of Probate and Divorce, and the 
ecclesiastical Court of Arches, ceased to exist as separate tribunals, but 
their names were retained as those of divisions of the Supreme Court. 
One of the chief objects had in view in this alteration was the fusion of 
the principles of law and equity. 

ASHANTEE WAR. 

In the autumn of 1873 Great Britain was engaged in a war with the 
Ashantees in West Africa, in consequence of misunderstandings resulting 
from the sale to England of the Dutch colonies on the Gold Coast. 
Under the skillful conduct of Sir Garnet Wolseley, the King of Ashantee 
was defeated, and his capital Coomassie, taken and burned, and he 
accepted peace, consenting to abolish human sacrifices (February n, 
1874). 

During this session the Ministry was greatly weakened, and there 
were manifest proofs of a conservative reaction. On January 23, 1874, 
Mr. Gladstone suddenly decided on dissolving Parliament ; but the elec- 
tions, under the joint operation of the late Reform Act and vote by ballot, 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 5°3 

gave the Conservatives a great majority. Following Mr. Disraeli's 
example in 1868, Mr. Gladstone's Ministry resigned without waiting to 
meet Parliament (February 17th); and Mr. Disraeli became Prime 
Minister a second time. His government included the Marquis of 
Salisbury and the Earl of Carnarvon, who had separated from him on the 
reform question in 1867 ; the Earl of Derby was again Foreign Secretary, 
and Sir Stafford Northcote (a financial disciple of Mr. Gladstone) 
Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

The Queen's Ninth Parliament met on March 5th, and the most 
important measure of the session was the act for the regulation of public 
worship, which provided simpler means of bringing disputes on ritual 
observances to a judicial decision. The duties on sugar were abolished. 
By this time it was apparent that the country desired a rest from organic 
changes, and the ensuing year was mainly occupied with measures of 
legal, social and sanitary improvements. In September, 1874, the annex- 
ation of the Fiji Islands, by the desire of the inhabitants, secured a station 
in the Pacific of great importance for communication with Australia and 
New Zealand. 

EMPRESS OF INDIA. 

Early in 1875 Mr. Gladstone retired from the leadership of the 
Liberal party and was succeeded by the Marquis of Hartington. At the 
close of the year the Prince of Wales set out on a visit to India. At 
Calcutta he held a chapter of the Order of the Star of India (January 1, 
1876), which was numerously attended by the native princes and their 
suites in the gorgeous equipage of their several provinces. On the 1 ith 
he visited Delhi ; and after a tour in Her Majesty's Indian dominions, 
with a splendor and popularity such as had never fallen to the lot of a 
European prince, he returned to Bombay (March nth) and embarked 
for England. In the meantime Lord Northbrook had resigned the office 
of Governor-General, and was succeeded by Lord Lytton, son of the 
famous novelist (April 12th). 

In commemoration of the Prince's visit, and as a sign of the imperial 
relation of the British power to all India, Parliament gave the Queen 
authority to assume the title of Empress of India, which was proclaimed 
in London on April 28, 1876, and in India, with great solemnities, on 
January 1, 1877. 



504 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

THE SUEZ CANAL SHARES. 

In November, 1875, Mr. Disraeli had proposed to purchase the 
Khedive's share of the Suez Canal, at the price of four millions, and the 
proposal was unanimously sanctioned by the House of Commons 
(February 21, 1876). At the close of this session Mr. Disraeli, who was 
seventy-one years of age, and had borne for thirty years the strain of 
leading his party in the Commons, was removed to the House of Lords, 
with the title of Earl of Beaconsfield. 

WAR IN THE BALKANS. 

Meanwhile the attention of the nation had been drawn to the mis- 
government of Turkey, and the atrocities perpetrated under its feeble 
and inefficient rule, by Count Andrassy's note, presented to the Porte 
(January 31, 1876), by the Austrian, Russian and German Ambassadors. 
The Turkish Sultan, Abdul Aziz, was deposed (May 30th), and committed 
suicide five days after. He was succeeded by Murad V. But the change 
of rulers produced no alteration in the sentiments of Europe. The 
odium into which the Turkish Government had fallen was an encourage- 
ment for the neighboring and dependent provinces to rebel. On July 
1 st and 2d the Servians and Montenegrins declared war and crossed the 
Turkish frontier. On August 31st Murad was deposed, and Abdul 
Hamid II was proclaimed Sultan. 

During the recess popular indignation was stirred to the utter- 
most by the Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria. The war with Servia still 
continued, in spite of the friendly intervention of the great European 
powers, until the Servians were totally defeated and Djunis captured 
by the Turks (October i9th-24th). 

RUSSIA MAKES WAR ON TURKEY. 

The embarrassment of Turkey was the opportunity of Russia, which 
now interfered, ostensibly in behalf of the Christian subjects living under 
the Sultan. The Marquis of Salisbury was appointed by Her Majesty as 
her special ambassador to attend a conference of the great powers at 
Constantinople in order to settle the Eastern question. The conference 
commenced December 23d, but its proposals were rejected by the Porte, 
and it concluded its sittings January 20, 1877. As the last hope of avert- 
ing war between Russia and Turkey the six great European powers 



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STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. S°7 

signed a protocol at London asserting the necessity of reforms and pro- 
viding for mutual disarmament on certain conditions (March 31st). On 
the determination of the Porte to listen to no such proposals (April 
1 2th), Russia declared war (April 24th), while the^ other great powers 
determined to observe a strict neutrality. 

OCCUPATION OF ROME. 

The first reverses at Weissemburg and Worth in 1870 had been 
followed by the hasty recall of the French troops from Rome, and the 
city was offered to the Italian Government as the price of armed assist- 
ance to France. But Victor Emanuel had already declared the neutrality 
of Italy. It would have been imprudent to join what was evidently a 
losing cause, and the link between Italy and France had been broken at 
Mentana. On September nth, ten days after the capitulation of Sedan, 
Italian troops crossed the frontier of the Papal States. Pius IX had held 
an ecumenical council in the previous year to decree the dogma of Papal 
infallibility, and had thus decided a dispute that had remained unsolved 
since the famous assemblies of Constance and Basel. Such a man was 
not likely to resign his temporal power of his own accord. All sugges- 
tions of a peaceful compromise were met with the invariable answer of 
non possumus. On September 18th the bombardment of Rome com- 
menced, and two days later the city was occupied. A plebiscite declared 
for annexation to the Italian kingdom by an overwhelming majority, 
and the next year the capital was transferred from Florence to the Eter- 
nal City. 

No protest was made against this natural completion of the Italian 
State. Victor Emanuel carried out the policy of Cavour, left the 
Pope in undisturbed possession of the Vatican, and ostentatiously pro- 
claimed the complete independence of his ecclesiastical authority. It was 
a great blow to the King to be involved in hostile relations to the head of 
his church, but he was consoled by the thought that he had obtained the 
object of his life. 

He had still a vast amount of hard labor to perform in weld- 
ing together the discordant parts of his Kingdom, and increasing its 
material prosperity. 

His prosperous reign was ended by a sudden death on January 9, 
1878, when the crown passed to his eldest son, Humbert I. 



508 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

KING AMADEUS. 

It proved a very difficult task to fill up the vacancy on the Spanish 
throne, which had been productive of such vast results. After the col- 
lapse of the Hohenzollern candidature, the crown was offered to Victor 
Emanuel's second son, Amadeus of Aosta (born in 1845). The offer was 
accepted, and the young prince did his best to perform the duties which 
he had undertaken. But Spain was wholly unfit for a constitutional mon- 
archy. Wearied out and disgusted by the incessant factions and 
intrigues, Amadeus resigned his crown in 1873. A provisional Republic 
was now formed, of which Castelar was the guiding spirit. But Don 
Carlos raised his standard once more in the Basque provinces, while the 
democrats of the South revolted against any central authority, and de- 
manded the establishment of a republican federation. At last the restor- 
ation of order was undertaken by the army. The Cortes were dis- 
solved by a coup d'etat, Castelar indignantly threw up his office, and a 
military republic was established. This insured the unity of the State, 
and the anarchy of the federalists was suppressed. But it was obvious 
that peace could not be finally restored except by the restoration of the 
monarchy, and the only possible candidate was the young Alfonso, the 
son of the exiled Isabella. In December, 1874, he was proclaimed King 
as Alfonso XII. The first business of the new monarch was to termi- 
nate the Cariist war, and this was successfully accomplished in 1876. 
From this time the restored monarchy has maintained itself in Spain, 
and has satisfied the people, though without exciting any enthusiastic 
devotion. 

GERMANY AND THE VATICAN. 

The German Government, under Bismarck's lead, in June, 1872, en- 
acted a law suppressing the order of Jesuits and other ecclesiastical 
bodies. This led, in December following, to an open rupture between 
the German Government and the Vatican. In May of the following 
year the German Government adopted the famous "May Laws" of 
Dr. Falk, directed against the Catholic Church. Thus was begun a 
political-ecclesiastical conflict which was waged with much bitterness for 
many years, and which ultimately ended in the triumph of the Catholic 
Church over the German Government in the total repeal of the ob- 
noxious laws. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 509 

EMANCIPATION IN BRAZIL. 

The Brazilian Government on September 28, 1871, passed an act 
providing for the gradual abolition of slavery in that Empire. 

The Cuban war which had been dragging on for some time assumed 
a new phase in 1873. On October 31st of that year a Spanish gunboat 
seized a ship under the American flag, which was charged with carrying 
filibusters into Cuba. The passengers and crew of the ship, chiefly 
American citizens, were taken to Cuba as prisoners, and many of them 
savagely put to death without trial. Relations between the United States 
and Spain were strained almost to the breaking point, but war was finally 
averted by Spain's yielding to the American demands on November 29th. 
The American ship which had been seized, the "Virginius," was sur- 
rendered by Spain on December 16th. 

The Russian Government achieved the conquest of Khiva in 1873. 
In the same year the Dutch Government became involved in the Atcheen 
war with natives in its East Indian Empire, a war which is still dragging 
its interminable length along. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



Completion of Pacific Railroad and Suez Canal — Obituary — Baker on the 
Nile — Chicago Fire— Mont Cenis Tunnel — Hoosac Tunnel — Polar 
Exploration — Stanley's Search for Livingstone — End of 
Livingstone's Career — Death of Livingstone — Two 
Great Fires — The Centennial of Inde- 
pendence — Various Doings in 
Various Lands. 



THE eight years with which the present chapter deals were full 
of interest to the general progress of the world. They were 
marked with the completion of several of the greatest engineer- 
ing undertakings in history. Foremost among these was the 
completion of the Pacific Railroad, in 1869, by which achievement the 
two coasts of the American continent were connected with an iron 
highway, and the old caravans across the plains, or the long voyages 
around Cape Horn or across the Central American Isthmus were 
obviated. The last link in this great highway was forged at Promon- 
tory, Utah, when the last spike, a golden one, was driven with a silver 
hammer, and two locomotives, one from the east and one from the 
west, came together front to front. The part this road has played 
in the development of the United States cannot be over-estimated. 
Vast areas which were once vaguely referred to as the Great Ameri- 
can Desert were opened up to settlement, and were soon trans- 
formed into prosperous commonwealths. Other roads were afterward 
built across the United States, until at the present time they number 
half a dozen, with others in prospect. 

The same year saw the opening, with imposing ceremonies, of 
the Suez Canal, by means of which a direct international waterway 
was opened from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean by way 
of the Red Sea. This route greatly shortened the trip from Europe 
to India and China, and was of especial importance to Great Britain, 

,510 







Mdme ADEUNAPATT 




SARAH BERNHARDT 



JENNY L1ND 




J.P.KEMBLE 



I895-POPULAR ACTORS AND ACTRESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 




1896— ITALIANS FIGHTING AGAINST KING MENELIK IN ABYSSINIA 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 513 

because of her paramount interests in Asia. It had the effect of 
lessening the importance of Constantinople and of increasing that of 
Egypt as the "key of Asia." Thereafter British solicitude for the 
safety of Constantinople waned, while British determination to control 
Egypt correspondingly increased. 

OBITUARY. 

The death roll for 1869 included three names of the first rank — 
viz., Franklin Pierce, formerly President of the United States ; Lamar- 
tine, the great French statesman and historian, whose name is insepar- 
ably connected with the overthrow of the Bourbon dynasty in France ; 
and of Sainte-Beuve, the Frenchman of letters, who is probably to be 
ranked for all time as the foremost of literary critics, indeed as the 
founder of the art of intelligent and discriminating literary criticism. 

BAKER ON THE NILE. 

Sir Samuel Baker has already been mentioned as one of the 
most energetic and effective of African explorers, and one of the dis- 
coverers of the great lakes which form a conspicuous part of the 
upper Nile system. In 1870 he was again sent thither by the British 
Government, nominally under Egyptian direction, to survey the Nile, 
open it to commerce, and to establish Egyptian sovereignty in the 
Eastern Soudan. He did a great engineering work in cutting a pass- 
age through the gigantic masses of "sud" or vegetable accumulations 
which completely blocked the channel of the Nile, and thus made the 
river navigable up to the lakes. Finding the Soudan occupied only 
by discordant tribes, without any general government, he had little 
difficulty in annexing a vast domain to Egypt. In so doing he per- 
formed a great work for civilization. At the same time he opened 
the way for the great drama of later years, when the Mahdi arose 
against Egyptian rule, and Gordon was sacrificed at Khartoum, and 
the reconquest of the Soudan was finally effected at incalculable cost. 

In 1870 also occurred the deaths of Dickens and the elder 

Dumas, the greatest novelists of England and France respectively ; of 

Admiral Farragut, the foremost naval commander on the Union side 

in the Civil War, and of General Lee, the chieftain of the Confederate 

armies. 

37 



514 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

CHICAGO FIRE. 

The year 1871 was made memorable in the United States by the 
great fire in the city of Chicago. This began on the evening of 
Sunday, October 8, in a barn in the outskirts of the city. It was 
caused by a cow kicking over a lamp, by the light of which the ani- 
mal was being milked. The fire raged during the two following days. 
It burned over the heart of the city, comprising an area of about 
three and a half square miles. No fewer than 17,450 buildings were 
destroyed. More than two hundred lives were lost, and nearly 100,000 
persons were rendered entirely homeless. The money loss aggregated 
more than $200,000,000. This was by far the largest and most destruc- 
tive fire recorded in the history of the world. It almost annihilated the 
city. But relief was proffered in abundant measure from all parts of the 
country and indeed of the world. The citizens of Chicago displayed an 
energy and enterprise in rebuilding such as never has been paralleled, 
and the city was soon restored to greater size and splendor than 
before the fire. 

MONT CENIS TUNNEL. 

An engineering work easily comparable with those already 
mentioned was the construction of the tunnel under Mont Cenis. 
This gigantic work, which gave for the first time direct railroad com- 
munication across the Alps, was first suggested in 1840. The work 
was actually begun by King Victor Emanuel on August 31, 1857. 
Until i860 at the north and until 1862 at the south end, all drilling 
was done by hand. Then power drills were introduced and the work 
proceeded more rapidly. The two headings, from the two sides of 
the mountains, met on December 25, 1870, and so accurate had the 
work of the surveyors been that the difference in level of the two was 
scarcely twelve inches. The tunnel was formally opened for use on 
September 17, 1871. Its length is nearly eight miles, and its cost 
was about $1 100 per running yard. 

HOOSAC TUNNEL. 

We may at this point fittingly mention two other great tunnels 
of about the same time. One of these was the Hoosac Tunnel, through 
t&e Hoosac Mountains, in western Massachusetts. The Massachusetts 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 515 

Legislature had agreed upon the desirability of it in 1825. In 1850 
the site was selected. Work was begun in 1855, and abandoned in 
1 86 1. The State took the work in hand officially in 1863, and com- 
pleted it on November 27, 1873. The tunnel is four and a half miles 
long, and cost $14,000,000. 

Work was begun in 1869 by United States army engineers on a 
tunnel under the rocks of Hell Gate, in the East River, New York. 
A system of intersecting tunnels was constructed, measuring 7426 feet 
in length. The whole system was charged with dynamite and ex- 
ploded on September 24, 1876. 

Still another tunnel, the longest in the world, may also be 
mentioned. This is the Rothschoenberg Tunnel, built to drain some 
mines in Saxony. It was begun in 1844 and was finished at the 
beginning of 1877. It is no less than thirty-one and a half miles in 
length. The Sutro Tunnel, four miles long, for draining mines in 
Nevada, was completed in June, 1879. 

POLAR EXPLORATION. 

Interest in Polar research never seemed to flag. In 1871 the 
American expedition under Captain Hall made its way as far north 
as latitude 82 ° 16'. 

The next year the Austrian expedition of Weyprecht and Payer 
set out for the north. It was absent for several years, and had a 
most successful career. In 1873 it discovered and partially explored 
Francis Joseph Land, and in 1874 it reached its highest latitude, 82 5'. 

The next venture was a record-breaking one. In 1875 tne Brit- 
ish Captain Nares set out for the north of Greenland by way of 
Baffin Bay, in Mr. Leigh Smith's yacht, the " Eira." It reached a 
high latitude, and in 1876 a detachment of it on sledges reached 83 
20', the highest latitude ever attained down to that date. 

STANLEY'S SEARCH FOR LIVINGSTONE. 

The African researches of Dr. Livingstone had interested all the 
world. In 1870 that illustrious explorer seemed to have become lost to 
view. Accordingly James Gordon Bennett, editor of the " New York 
Herald," sent a relief expedition to find him and relieve his wants. The 
head of this expedition was Henry M. Stanley, a young newspaper 



5 16 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

correspondent, who had distinguished himself as an enterprising corres- 
pondent in the British war with Abyssinia. He was of Welsh nativity, 
but was a citizen of the United States, in which country he had spent 
most of his life. His march into the heart of the African wilderness in 
search of Livingstone, and its success, form one of the most romantic 
chapters in the history of adventure. 

END OF LIVINGSTONE'S CAREER, 

We have hitherto followed in general Livingstone's marvellous 
work in Africa. He recrossed Lake Tanganyika in July, 1869, and 
through the country of the Manyuema he tried in vain, for a whole year, 
to reach and cross the Lualaba, baffled partly by the natives, partly by 
the slave-hunters, and partly by his long illnesses. It was, indeed, not 
till March 29, 1871, that he succeeded in reaching the Lualaba, at the 
town of Nyangwe, where he stayed four months, vainly trying to get a 
canoe to take him across. It was here that a party of Arab slavers, 
without warning or provocation, assembled one day when the market was 
busiest and commenced shooting down the poor women, hundreds being 
killed or drowned in trying to escape. Livingstone had "the impression 
that he was in hell," but was helpless, though his "first impulse was to 
pistol the murderers." The account of this scene which he sent home 
roused indignation in England to such a degree as to lead to determined 
and to a considerable extent successful efforts to get the Sultan of Zanzi- 
bar to suppress the trade. In sickened disgust the weary traveller made 
his way back to Ujiji, which he reached on October 13. Five days 
after his arrival in Ujiji he was cheered and inspired with new life, 
and completely set up again, as he said, by the timely arrival of Mr. 
Stanley. Mr. Stanley's residence with Livingstone was almost the 
only bright episode of these last sad years. With Stanley, Living- 
stone explored the north end of Tanganyika, and proved conclusively 
that the Lusize runs into and not out of it. In the end of the year 
the two started eastward for Unyanyembe, where Stanley provided 
Livingstone with an ample supply of goods, and bade him farewell. 

DEATH OF LIVINGSTONE. 

Stanley left on March 15, 1872, and after Livingstone had waited 
wearily at Unyanyembe for five months, a troop of fifty-seven men 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 517 

and boys arrived, good and faithful fellows on the whole, selected by 
Stanley himself. Thus attended, he started on August 15 for Lake 
Bangweolo, proceeding along the east side of Tanganyika. His old 
enemy dysentery soon found him out. In January 1873 the party got 
among the endless spongy jungle on the east of Lake Bangweolo, 
Livingstone's object being to go round by the south and away west 
to find the "fountains." Vexatious delays took place, and the journey 
became one constant wade below, under an almost endless pour of 
rain from above. The Doctor got worse and worse, but no idea of 
danger seems to have occurred to him. At last, in the middle of 
April, he had unwillingly to submit to be carried in a rude litter. 
On April 29 Chitambo's village on the Lulimala, in Ilala, on the south 
shore of the lake, was reached. The last entry in the journal is April 
2j: — "Knocked up quite, and remain — recover — sent to buy milch 
goats. We are on the banks of the Molilamo." On April 30 he 
with difficulty wound up his watch, and early on the morning of May 1 
the boys found "the great master," as they called him, kneeling by 
the side of his bed, dead. His faithful men preserved the body in the 
sun as well as they could, and wrapping it carefully up, carried it and all 
his papers, instruments, and other things across Africa to Zanzibar. It 
was borne to England with all honor, and on April 18, 1874, was depos- 
ited in Westminster Abbey, amid tokens of mourning and admiration such 
as England accords only to her greatest sons. Government bore all the 
funeral expenses. His faithfully kept journals during these seven years' 
wanderings were published under the title of the "Last Journals of 
David Livingstone in Central Africa," in 1874, edited by his old friend, 
the Rev. Horace Waller. 

In spite of his sufferings and the many compulsory delays, Living- 
stone's discoveries during these last years were both extensive and of 
prime importance as leading to a solution of African hydrography. 
No single African explorer has ever done so much for African 
geography as Livingstone during his thirty years' work. His travels 
covered one third of the continent, extending from the Cape to near 
the equator, and from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. Livingstone 
was no hurried traveller ; he did his journeying leisurely, carefully ob- 
serving and recording all that was worthy of note, with rare geograph- 
ical instinct and the eye of a trained scientific observer, studying the 



518 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

ways of the people, eating their food, living in their huts, and sympa- 
thizing with their joys and sorrows. It will be long till the tradition 
of his sojourn dies out among the native tribes, who almost, without 
exception, treated Livingstone as a superior being ; his treatment of 
them was always tender, gentle, and gentlemanly. But the direct gains 
to geography and science are perhaps not the greatest results of 
Livingstone's journeys. He conceived, developed, and carried out to 
success a noble and many-sided purpose, with unflinching and self- 
sacrificing energy and courage that entitled him to take rank among 
the great and strong who single-handed have been able materially to 
influence human progress, and the advancement of knowledge. His 
example and his death have acted like an inspiration, filling Africa 
with an army of explorers and missionaries, and raising in Europe so 
powerful a feeling against slave-trade that it may be considered as 
having received its deathblow. Personally Livingstone was a pure 
and tender-hearted man, full of humanity and sympathy. The motto of 
his life was his advice to some school children in Scotland, — "Fear God, 
and work hard." 

TWO GREAT FIRES. 

Two more destructive fires are now to be recorded. One broke 
out in the heart of the city of Boston on November 9, 1872, and de 
stroyed 800 buildings and inflicted a loss of $80,000,000. 

The second was the burning of the Brooklyn Theatre, in the cit) 
of Brooklyn, N. Y. This occurred on the night of December 5, 1876, 
and destroyed 295 human lives. 

The death list of 1871 included the names of Herschel, the astron- 
omer; Auber, the composer, and Grote, the historian. In 1872 died 
Horace Greeley, the editor of the "New York Tribune;" Mazzini, the 
Italian revolutionist and liberator ; and General Meade, the hero of 
Gettysburg. 

The year 1872 was marked with a great eruption of Mount 
Vesuvius, one of the most extensive and most destructive in the 
modern history of that volcano. 

An International Exhibition was held in Vienna in 1873, an ^ 
proved a great success. 

In the latter years occurred the deaths of Bulwer-Lytton, the English 
novelist; John Stuart Mill, the English philosopher and political econom 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 519 

ist ; Manzoni, the Italian novelist, poet and dramatist, and Agassiz, the 
Swiss-American scientist. Louis Napoleon, ex-Emperor of France, died 
in the same year. 

THE CENTENNIAL OF INDEPENDENCE. 

The centenary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence 
was celebrated in the United States on July 4, 1876, with unprece- 
dented popular festivities. A feature of the occasion was the holding 
of a world's fair in the city of Philadelphia, from May to November 
of that year. This was the largest and most successful Universal 
Exhibition the world had at that time ever seen. The buildings 
covered more than seventy acres of ground, there were 30,864 exhibi- 
tors, from all parts of the world, and the unprecedented number of 
10,164,489 persons entered it during the 159 days on which it was 
open. These figures simply dwarfed those of the previous shows in 
Paris, London, and elsewhere. 

At this exhibition the newly-invented telephone was for the first 
time publicly exhibited. The electric light at this time began to be con- 
sidered a practical possibility. The reaping machine, invented and in 
general use long before, now reached its highest development, and 
other mechanical and scientific devices were made known to the world. 

VARIOUS DOINGS IN VARIOUS LANDS. 

In 1874 tne Dutch war in Atcheen took a favorable turn and was 
nearly ended. Lieutenant Cameron in 1875 completed a noteworthy 
journey across the African continent. In 1875-6 the Khedive Ismail, 
of Egypt, waged an unsuccessful war of intended conquest against 
Abyssinia and was badly beaten. Russia annexed Khokan in 1876, 
and Porfirio Diaz became President of Mexico. 

The necrology of these years includes in 1874 tne names of ex- 
President Fillmore, Charles Sumner, and Guizot, the French historian 
and statesman. In 1875 ex- President Johnson, Lyell, the geologist, and 
Andersen, the writer of fairy-tales died. In 1876 died Deak, the Hun- 
garian statesman, and George Sand, the French novelist 



CHAPTER XL. 



Rutherford B. Hayes becomes President of the United States — Civil 
Service Reform — Free Coinage of Silver — Specie Payments — In- 
cidents of the Administration — Labor Troubles — Knights 
of Labor — Growth of the Order — First General 
Assembly — Presidential Election. 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES began his term as President of the 
United States on March 4, 1877. We have already told of the 
circumstances under which he was elected and declared elected. 
Threats of resistance to his inauguration were made, but proved 
idle. To the end a large part of the nation refused to regard him as the 
morally rightful President, but his legal authority as the actual President 
was never challenged. His administration was, on the whole, wise and 
prudent, and greatly advanced the political welfare of the nation. The 
Federal troops were withdrawn from the Southern States, and the fullest 
measure of home rule was there re-established. The so-called Green- 
back Craze, a popular demand for irredeemable paper money, swept 
over the country and materially affected Congressional legislation. The 
President, however, resisted it and stood persistently for a gold basis for 
the national currency. 

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 

A noteworthy feature of the Hayes administration was the first 
practical step toward Civil Service Reform. This was made in a Presi- 
dential order forbidding Federal office-holders to take part in political 
campaigns to the neglect of their official duties. 

Ex-President Grant left this country early in 1877 for a tour around 
the world, in which he was received everywhere with official and popular 
honors never before accorded to any traveller. 

A war with the Nez Perces Indians broke out in May, 1877, and 
lasted until October, when it was ended by the energetic work of 

520 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



521 



General Miles, after one of the most remarkable campaigns in the 
history of our Indian wars. 

FREE COINAGE OF SILVER. 

A memorable political incident was the introduction of a bill in 
Congress, by Representative Bland, of Missouri, on November 5, 1877, 
for the free coinage of silver into dollars at the ratio of 16 to 1 — that is, 
that sixteen ounces of silver should be reckoned equal in value to one 
ounce of gold. The free coinage of silver, long practically suspended, 
had been discontinued by act of Congress in 1873. Mr. Bland's reso- 
lution was adopted. President Hayes vetoed it, and on February 28, 
1878, it was passed over the President's veto and became a law. In this 
episode was the origin of the silver question which has since been so 
conspicuous a feature of American politics. 

SPECIE PAYMENTS. 

President Hayes, in his annual message of December 3, 1877, 
recommended the resumption of specie payments by the Government, 
which had been suspended since early in the Civil War, to take effect on 
January 1, 1879. This action of the Government was vigorously opposed 
by the enemies of the administration, and was declared to be imprac- 
ticable and impossible. But the President and his supporters persevered, 
and such resumption of specie payments was successfully effected on the 
date mentioned without the least disturbance of the finances of the nation, 
but, on the contrary, with a great general gain for sound business 
methods. 

The National Greenback Party, favoring the use of irredeemable 
paper as currency, was organized on February 22, 1878, and for some 
years played an important part in national politics. 

INCIDENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 

Among the incidents which marked the Hayes administration was 
the payment of $5,000,000 to Great Britain, in November, 1877, as an 
award under the Treaty of Washington, for American use of Canadian 
fisheries. In May, 1878, a Congressional investigation of alleged frauds 
in the Presidential election of 1876 was begun. The investigation lasted 
a long time, but its results were inconclusive. In June, 1878, an act of 



522 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

Congress forbade the use of the Federal army as a posse comitatus to 
execute laws, except as expressly provided by the Constitution. At the 
same time the Life Saving Service was greatly extended and organized. 
That summer a serious epidemic of yellow fever prevailed in the 
Southern States. 

The first regular Embassy from China to the United States arrived 
at Washington in September, 1878. Soon after a bill was introduced 
into Congress to prohibit further Chinese immigration into the United 
States. The progress of the debate thereon was marked, on February 
14, 1879, by the first occupancy of a Senatorial chair by a negro, the 
Senator in question being Mr. B. K. Bruce, of Mississippi. The next 
day women were permitted, by act of Congress, to practice before the 
Supreme Court of the United States. The Chinese exclusion bill was 
adopted by Congress, but was vetoed by the President on March 1, 1879. 
Three days later the National Health Board was created. 

LABOR TROUBLES. 

The year 1877 was marked with some of the most serious labor 
troubles in the history of the country. Early in that year ten leaders of 
the criminal organization known as Molly Maguires were hanged in 
Pennsylvania. That incident had no real relation to honest labor 
interests. But soon thereafter strikes, accompanied with violence, began 
in various industries and in various parts of the country. 

The first great railroad strike in the United States began at Martins- 
burg, W. Va., on July 16, 1877, when the locomotive firemen went out 
on the Baltimore & Ohio road. Within a week this strike had spread 
to the Pennsylvania, Erie, Lake Shore, Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago, 
Cincinnati & St. Louis, Vandalia, Ohio & Mississippi, C, C, C. & I., 
Erie & Pittsburg, Philadelphia & Erie, Chicago & Alton, Canada 
Southern and other minor lines. The troops were called out at Martins- 
burg, and against their efforts to preserve order the mob of strikers were 
successful. The Fifth Maryland Regiment was mobbed in the streets of 
Baltimore while marching to the depot to leave for the scene of trouble. 
The National Guard of Pennsylvania was mobbed hi the streets of Pitts- 
burg, and the momentous nature of the disturbance, closely approximat- 
ing civil war in Pittsburg, speedily made itself felt all over the United 
States. It was in Pittsburg that the railroad round-houses and freight- 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS 523 

cars were burned, that the lives of the First City Troop of Philadelphia 
were seriously imperilled, and that a total damage was done amounting, it 
is said, to not less than $5,000,000 to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company 
alone. When the United States troops arrived the mobs dispersed, and 
quiet was finally restored. It is difficult to form any accurate idea of 
the aggregate of destruction to property which resulted from the railroad 
strike of 1877. Two million dollars of the railroad company's $5,000,000 
loss the taxpayers of Allegheny county were compelled to pay. The 
interruption to travel, the mental disturbances occasioned to nervous 
people, the general moral deterioration which seems to follow all such 
popular outbursts on the part of those who indulge in them, must be 
added as items of loss to the grand aggregate of property ruined and 
wages and lives lost. Twelve men were killed in Baltimore alone on 
July 20th. The slaughter in Pittsburg on the 21st of the same month 
was deplorable, and was said at the time to be due to a blunder of the 
militia. It is noticeable that the men on the New York Central Railroad 
did not join in this strike. In return for their loyalty to their employers 
$100,000 in cash was divided among them. 

KNIGHTS OF LABOR. 

The year 1877 was notable, too, for the general organization of the 
order of Knights of Labor. This order was born on Thanksgiving Day, 
1869, in the city of Philadelphia, and was the result of the efforts of 
Uriah S. Stephens, as the leader, and six associates, all garment-cutters. 
For several years previous to this date the garment-cutters of Philadel- 
phia had been organized as a trades-union, but had failed to maintain a 
satisfactory rate of wages in their trade. A feeling of dissatisfaction 
prevailed, which resulted, in the fall of 1869, in a vote to disband the 
union. Stephens, foreseeing this result, had quietly prepared the out- 
lines of a plan for an organization embracing "all branches of honorable 
toil," and based upon education, which, through co-operation and an intel- 
ligent use of the ballot, should gradually abolish the present wage system. 

GROWTH OF THE ORDER. 

Mr. Stephens' associates, or those who agreed with him to form a 
secret society to take the place of the disbanded Garment-cutters' Union, 
were James L. Wright, Robert C. Macauley, Joseph S. Kennedy, William 



524 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

Cook, Robert W. Keen and James M. Hilsee. At a subsequent meet- 
ing, held December 28, 1869, upon the report of a Committee on Ritual, 
involving obligations and oaths, Mr. Stephens and his six associates sub- 
scribed their names to the obligations ; and, when the ritual was adopted, 
Mr. James L. Wright moved that the new order be named the " Knights 
of Labor." 

Mr. Stephens brought into the ritual of the new order many of the 
features of speculative Masonry, especially in the forms and ceremonies 
observed. The obligations were in the nature of oaths, taken with all 
solemnity upon the Bible. The members were sworn to the strictest 
secrecy. The name even of the order was not to be divulged ; and it 
was for a long time referred to in the literature of the Knights of Labor, 
in their circulars, meetings, reports, and conversation, as " Five Stars," 
five stars being used in all printing and writing to designate the name of 
the order. There were also introduced into the ritual many classical ex- 
pressions taken from the Greek. 

No details or general laws for the government of the order appear 
to have been adopted until the formation of the first Local Assembly in 
1873 ; but the plan presented at the meeting in November, 1869, was 
heartily approved, and adopted by Stephens' associates. Meetings were 
held weekly ; and on January 13, 1870, the new organization chose its 
officers to the several positions called for by the ritual, as follows : Ven- 
erable Sage, Past-officer, James L. Wright ; Master Workman, U. S. 
Stephens ; Worthy Foreman, Robert W. Keen ; Worthy Inspector, 
William Cook; Unknown Knight, Joseph Kennedy. The office of Sta- 
tistician was created February 3d, and the position filled by the election 
of Robert C. Macauley. 

FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 

The Local Assemblies were soon organized, as they grew in num- 
bers, into District Assemblies, and late in 1877 a ca ^ was issued for all 
District Assemblies then existing to choose delegates, who should meet 
in convention and organize a General Assembly. These delegates 
met at Reading, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1878, and organized the first 
General Assembly. Mr. Stephens, the founder, was called to the chair, 
pending permanent organization. The delegates were in session four 
days, the following officers being chosen : Grand Master Workman, 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 525 

Uriah S. Stephens, of Philadelphia ; Grand Worthy Foreman, Ralph 
Beaumont, of Elmira, New York ; Grand Secretary, Charles H. Litch- 
man, of Marblehead, Massachusetts ; Grand Assistant Secretary, John 
G. Laning, of Clifton, West Virginia ; Grand Treasurer, Thomas M. 
Gallagher, of St. Louis, Missouri. 

When the third annual session of the General Assembly was held at 
Chicago in September, 1879, Terrence V. Powderly was elected to suc- 
ceed Mr. Stephens as General Master Workman. The order had at 
this time 700 Local Assemblies, and a membership of many thousands. 

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 

The Presidential campaign of 1880 was marked with two noteworthy 
features. One was the candidacy of ex-President Grant for nomination 
for a third term, which was defeated only after an exciting struggle in the 
Republican National Convention. The other was the appearance of the 
Greenback party, with a formidable following, in the field as a third 
party. 

The Republican candidates for President and Vice-President were 
James A. Garfield, of Ohio, and Chester A. Arthur, of New York. The 
Democratic candidates were General W. S. Hancock, of New York, and 
W. H. English, of Indiana. The Greenbackers nominated General 
James B. Weaver, of Iowa, and B. J. Cambers, of Mississippi. After a 
close and exciting campaign, in which much personal abuse of candidates 
prevailed, Garfield and Arthur were elected, receiving 214 electoral 
votes, against 155 cast for Hancock and English. 



CHAPTER XLI. 



War between Russia and Turkey — Plevna — Shipka Pass — Treaty of 
Stefano — Treaty of Berlin — Results of the War — Second Afghan 
War — Conquest of Burmah — Australia — Development of the Col- 
onies — New Zealand — Canada — Irish Agitation — Crime in 
Ireland — " Boycotting " — Montenegro — Nihilism — Zulu 
and Transvaal Wars — Pope and King. 



AT the outbreak of her war with Turkey, in April, 1867, Russia 
concluded a treaty with Roumania, and the latter country soon 
after proclaimed its long-coveted independence of the Sublime 
Porte. Servia and Montenegro also embraced the opportunity 
of repudiating the last vestiges of Turkish authority. The early engage- 
ments of the war were chiefly favorable to the Turks. The first battle, 
near Batoum, a place on the south-east coast of the Black Sea, resulted 
in the defeat of the Russians with a heavy loss. Other engagements 
followed, in which the Turks more than held their own, against the far 
superior numbers and better equipment of the Russians. It was seen, 
indeed, that the Turks were still a nation of warriors, worthy descendants 
of the conquering tribes of former centuries. 

PLEVNA. 

The crowning Turkish achievement of the war, however, was the 
defence of Plevna, a place commanding the passage of the Balkans. 
This place was of much natural strength, and was heroically defended 
by Osman Pasha, the greatest of Turkish generals, against an over- 
whelming force of Russians led by the Czar himself. The first Russian 
attack was repulsed with dreadful slaughter, and the Russian army was 
almost destroyed. The Czar narrowly escaped capture. The Russians 
were saved from total ruin only by the opportune arrival of a detach- 
ment of their Roumanian allies, whom they had before that scorned as 
mere amateur soldiers. 

A second attack upon Plevna was made two months later, on Sep- 
tember nth, but with no better result for the Russians than the first. 

526 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 527 

Then the Russians, despairing of beating the Turks at fighting, decided 
to invest and starve the garrison to surrender, and Osman Pasha, though 
isolated from all help, held his post with unflinching resolution, till, on 
December nth, he resolved to force his way through the Russian in- 
trenchments. But he was wounded and driven back, and compelled to 
surrender, with 10,000 prisoners and 400 guns. This disastrous event 
was still more ruinous to the Turkish cause, as in the previous month 
the Russians had taken Kars by assault, inflicting on the Turks the loss 
of 12,000 men killed and wounded, and 300 guns (November 13th). 
Meanwhile the Russian advanced force crossed the Balkans, defeated 
the Turks, and took Sofia (December 31, 1877). 

SHIPKA PASS. 

At the beginning of the new year the Porte resolved to sue for an 
armistice, while the Russians crossed the Balkans in full force and cap- 
tured the Turkish army which had obstinately clung for months to the 
Shipka Pass (January 8-10, 1878). Just as the Sultan's envoys set out 
for the Russian camp their last army in Roumelia was defeated (January 
16-17), an d its remains were transported by sea for the defence of Con- 
stantinople, while Adrianople was yielded up without a blow (January 
19-20). The time had now come when the interests of Great Britain, 
on the integrity of which she had from the first announced her neutrality 
to be conditional, were plainly threatened. Parliament met on January 
17, having been summoned before the usual time in the prospect (said 
the Queen's speech) that, " should hostilities be prolonged, some un- 
expected occurrence may render incumbent on me to adopt measures 
of precaution." But on those measures the Cabinet itself was divided, 
and Lord Carnarvon resigned (January 24th). When, however, the news 
arrived that the Russians were threatening Gallipoli and the Dardanelles, 
and had advanced within thirty miles of Constantinople, the Liberals 
withdrew their opposition to the vote of ,£6,000,000 demanded by Gov- 
ernment, and the British fleet was ordered to enter the Sea of Marmora 
(February 8th). 

TREATY OF SAN STEFANO. 

On the same day the severe terms exacted by Russia for an armis- 
tice became known, and the Turks yielded up the outer lines around 
Constantinople. On the 24th the Archduke Nicolas fixed his head- 



528 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

quarters close to that city, at San Stefano, on the Sea of Marmora ; and 
here a preliminary treaty was signed, which would have destroyed the 
Sultan's power, and placed what was left of him at the mercy of Russia 
(March 3d). The terms, which were afterwards confirmed, will be stated 
presently ; but the main essence was contained in the creation of a great 
tributary, but self-governing, principality of Bulgaria, south as well as 
north of the Balkans, stretching across from the Black Sea to the 
^Egean, and leaving the Sultan only a narrow territory about Constan- 
tinople, the Sea of Marmora and the Straits. Russia did not deny that 
this reversal of the settlement of 1856 required some sanction from the 
European powers, but she held out against the firm demand of Great 
Britain, that the treaty of San Stefano should be laid as a whole before 
the proposed congress. At this crisis Lord Derby resigned (March 
28th) rather than concur in the calling out of the army reserves, and 
the bringing a force of 7000 Indian troops to be in readiness at Malta. 
The first act of Lord Salisbury, on succeeding to the seals of the Foreign 
Office, was to issue a circular despatch, which at once made England's 
attitude clear. While acutely scanning the several items of the treaty, 
he insisted chiefly that it would establish the complete supremacy of 
Russia over Turkey, not so much by any single article as by "the opera- 
tion of the instrument as a whole." 

TREATY OF BERLIN. 

Never did a state paper produce a more powerful effect. The 
vacillating policy of Austria was fixed to support England ; and Prince 
Bismarck, eager to avert the European war which is now known to have 
been imminent, used all his influence to persuade Russia to give way. 
The Russian ambassador, Count Schouvalov, labored earnestly in con- 
junction with our Government for peace, and their secret negotiations 
resulted in a written agreement (May 30th) as to the chief points that 
should be yielded or insisted on at the congress which Prince Bismarck 
invited to meet at Berlin on June 1 3th. England was represented by 
Lords Beaconsfield and Salisbury, by whose ability and the proof of 
earnestness given by the presence of the prime-minister (a very unusual 
step on such occasions), as well as by Prince Bismarck's resolution, the 
congress was brought to a successful issue, and the Treaty of Berlin 
was signed (July 13, 1878). 




1896— CZAR NICHOLAS 'I. CROWNS HIMSELF IN THF KREMLIN OF MOSCOW 




1897— QUEEN VICTORIA'S DIAMOND JUBILEE 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 53 1 

RESULTS OF THE WAR. 

Roumania, Servia and Montenegro gained their independence ; the 
two latter States with enlarged frontiers ; while Roumania had to give 
back to her too powerful ally the part of Bessarabia adjoining the 
Danube, receiving the marshes of the Dobruja at the expense of Bul- 
garia. The free navigation of the Danube was confirmed, and the fort- 
resses on its banks were to be razed. Bosnia and the Herzegovina, 
which had led the insurrection against Turkey, were handed over to 
Austrian occupation. The huge Bulgaria, devised by General Ignatiev 
at San Stefano, was divided ; the old province of that name, between 
the Danube and the Balkans, being erected into a tributary but self- 
governing principality under a prince to be elected by the people and 
approved by the Sultan and the powers ; while the new province of 
Eastern Roumelia (south of the Balkans) was left to the Sultan, but 
with administrative self-government and other securities against oppres- 
sion. The Sultan was advised to grant Greece an extension of territory. 
In Asia Russia gained more of Armenia, with the long-coveted port of 
Batoum ; but, as a security against any future conquests on her part, 
the British government had already signed a convention with the Porte 
for the defence of the Turkish possessions in Asia, for which purpose 
Turkey gave Cyprus to be occupied by Great Britain. The British 
envoys were welcomed home on their return to England, as bringing, 
in Lord Beaconsfield's own words, "peace with honor." 

SECOND AFGHAN WAR. 

The second Afghan war (1878-80) was a direct consequence of the 

political conflict of England and Russia at Constantinople after the 

Turkish war of 1877-78. While hostilities between the two powers 

seemed probable, a Russian Embassy went to Cabul and enlisted the 

Ameer Shere Ali as a confederate of the Czar. Lord Lytton, the British 

Viceroy of India, resolved to stop this new development, declared war 

on the Afghan ruler, and sent three expeditions across the frontier into 

the Ameer's dominions. Candahar having fallen, and Sir Frederick 

Roberts having stormed the Peiwar-Kotal pass and advanced close to 

Cabul, the Ameer fled towards Russian territory, and died soon after. 

His son and successor, Yakub Khan, at once asked for peace, gave 

guarantees, and received a British Envoy as a permanent resident in his 
28 



532 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

capital. But this weak Prince was totally unable to control his wild 
subjects, who rose in arms, murdered the Envoy, Sir Louis Cavagnari, 
and all his escorts, and proclaimed the "holy war" (Jehad) against the 
British infidels. Lord Lytton was obliged to launch his armies for a 
second time against Afghanistan. Roberts again marched on Cabul, and 
occupied it after the battle of Charasia, but was soon beset by a vast 
horde of insurgents, who beleaguered him in his camp. He drove them 
off, however, and was completely triumphant long before reinforcements 
reached him from India. 

But matters went worse in the south, where the pretender Ayoub 
Khan defeated at Maiwand the garrison of Candahar and formed the 
siege of that city. A bold resolution was taken at Cabul. Sir Frederick 
Roberts, gathering a force of over 9000 men, marched to the relief of 
Candahar, allowing Abdurrahman, with whom all arrangements had been 
previously concluded, to occupy Cabul, and leaving to General Stewart 
the duty of leading back the rest of the British troops by the Khyber to 
the Punjab. Roberts, cut of! from direct communication with his country- 
men, disappeared, as it were, from human ken for three weeks, during 
which the national anxiety was extreme. It was doubted whether 
Candahar could hold out until relieved, and yet relief from no other 
quarter could be hoped for in time. At length Roberts emerged vic- 
torious from the trackless region between Cabul and Candahar without 
the loss of a man. Falling on the besiegers he scattered them at the 
battle of Candahar (September 1, 1880), and practically finished the war 
at a single blow. Lord Lytton would have liked to annex much of the 
conquered territory, but Mr. Gladstone was now in power at home, and 
the warlike Viceroy was recalled. The Liberal Government withdrew 
the British troops, after recognizing as Ameer Abdur Rahman, a nephew 
of the late ruler, Shere Ali. He has, on the whole, proved a good 
neighbor to India, and kept faithfully the pledges which he made in 1880. 

CONQUEST OF BURMAH. 

The next important movement in the Indian Empire was on the flank 
furthest from Afghanistan. The Kings of Burmah had always been 
vexatious neighbors, and in 1885 the British were drawn into war with 
Theebaw, a despot who had massacred all his relatives and entered into 
intrigues with France. His worthless army was scattered with ease, and 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 533 

his whole dominion annexed ; but the suppression of the brigandage 
{dacoity), which had always prevailed in Burmah, proved a much harder 
business than the dethronement of the King, and was not finished for 
several years, during which many scores of expeditions had to be sent 
out against the bandits. 

AUSTRALIA. 

Australia was in 1800 very imperfectly known, though an English 
convict settlement had been planted at Port Jackson some twelve years 
before. But even down to 1 802 its shape was so little known that the 
great island of Tasmania was supposed to form a part of it. As long as 
the region was nothing more than a place of punishment for those "who 
left their country for their country's good," it was not likely to develop 
fast or happily. But, after the peace of Vienna, the capacities of the vast 
plains of Eastern Australia began to be known ; no region so well suited 
for pastoral enterprises on the largest scale exists in all the world. Free 
settlers, provided with some little capital, began to drift in and to plant 
their stations on the broad grassy upland of New South Wales, where 
sheep and cattle soon began to multiply at an astounding rate. But for 
a whole generation the unsavory convict element continued to predomi- 
nate, and to give the continent a bad name. Fortunately the ameliora- 
tion of the English criminal law, between 1820 and 1840, began to 
diminish the depth of the stream of ruffianism which was poured into 
Australia year by year, while the free colonists grew more numerous as 
the opening for the sheep farmer began to be realized. The feeling 
among them as to the further importation of convicts grew so strong that 
the British Government diverted the main stream from New South Wales 
(1840) to newer penal settlements in Tasmania and Western Australia. 
The system was not, however, finally abandoned in Tasmania till 1853, 
and in Western Australia till 1864, though in the last years of its 
existence the annual export of convicts had been very small. 

DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLONIES. 

Down to the middle of the century it seemed likely that Australia 
would never develop into anything more than a thinly populated pastoral 
country, occupied by a community of "squatters," each owning a vast 
run of many thousand acres, and employing a few shepherds and cattle- 
men to tend his live stock. Wool, tallow and hides, with a certain 



534 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

amount of timber, were practically the sole exports of the continent. 
But all was changed in 1848-51 by the discovery in Port Phillip, the 
southern region of New South Wales, of enormous deposits of alluvial 
gold, richer than anything known in the old world, and vieing in wealth 
with those of California. There was, of course, an instant rush to the 
new gold field, and the population of the Port Phillip district went up so 
rapidly that it was cut off from the parent colony and formed into a sepa- 
rate community under the name of Victoria, in 185 1. It has ever since 
remained one of the chief gold-producing centres of the world, and more 
than £250,000,000 worth of the precious metal has been extracted from 
its mines. More than ,£4,000,000 worth a year is still exported, though 
the easy surface deposits have long been exhausted, and all the material 
has to be crushed by machinery from the solid quartz reef. Some time 
after the Victorian gold field was developed similar fields of smaller 
extent and lesser richness were found to exist in other parts of the conti- 
nent. New South Wales and the younger colony of Queensland (created 
in 1859) have both an important output, and quite lately similar deposits 
have been discovered in Western Australia. 

NEW ZEALAND. 

To the east of Australia lies the colony of New Zealand, consisting 
of two large and one small island placed far out in the Pacific, some 
twelve hundred miles from the nearest point of New South Wales. 
Colonization here only began in the reign of Victoria, the first emigrants 
arriving in 1839. The history of New Zealand has been very different 
from that of the Australian Continent, owing to the existence of a large 
and energetic native population. The aborigines of Australia, a few 
thousand scattered over a vast continent, were among the lowest and 
most barbarous of mankind. The Maori tribes of New Zealand, on the 
other hand, were a fierce and intelligent race, given to the horrid practice 
of cannibalism, but in other respects by no means an unpromising people. 
They were ready and able to defend themselves when they considered 
their rights had been infringed, and since the first settlement there have 
been three wars (1843-47, 1863-64, 1869-70), in which the Maoris dis- 
played great courage, and considerable skill in fortification. Regular 
troops in large force had to be employed to evict them from their stock- 
aded "Pahs!' Of late years a better modus vivendi has been found, and 



to 

> 

H 
H 

r 
w 

o 








> 






ij«i."-.U» 



: ..■•> 







STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 537 

they seem contented with their large reservations of land, their subsidies 
from Government, and the four seats which have been given them in the 
New Zealand Parliament. 

The islands were, at their first colonization, organized as six prov- 
inces, each with a separate government, and were not united into a 
thoroughly centralized union till 1875. Their general character differs 
from that of Australia, as they are far more broken up by mountains, 
better watered, and much more temperate in climate. In the southern 
island snow not unfrequently falls. There are large pastoral districts 
and grassy plains, which supply the frozen meat now so common in 
English markets, but also considerable mining regions and large forest 
tracts. New Zealand was never dominated by the " squatter " aristoc- 
racy which once ruled Australia, but had always been in the hands of the 
smaller farmers. It is in sentiment the most democratic of all the Aus- 
tralian colonies, and has gone further even than Victoria on the road to- 
wards placing all social enterprise, industry and commerce under State 
control. 

CANADA. 

The progress of British North America was greatly assisted by the 
federation of the colonies, carried out between 1867 an d 1873. The two 
Canadas, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia formed themselves into the 
new Dominion of Canada in the first-named year ; the North-western 
Territory, once the property of the Hudson Bay Company, joined them 
in 1870, British Columbia in 1871, and Prince Edward Island in 1873. 
The remote fishing colony of Newfoundland has preferred not to cast in 
its lot with the rest, though in its dealings with its aggressive French 
neighbors it would be greatly helped by being able to speak with the 
same voice as its greater sisters. The Dominion is now a federal gov- 
ernment, with a Governor-General, a Senate appointed for life, and a 
House of Representatives. The individual provinces still retain for 
local purposes their provincial assemblies, and enjoy complete home rule 
under the central government. 

Since the federation, the most important landmark in the history of 
the colonies is undoubtedly the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway 
between 1881 and 1885. Since it was finished the development of Man- 
itoba and the other regions of the " Great Lone Land " has been very 
rapid. Nine new provinces now exist in this once uninhabitc region, 



53% STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARb. 

with a rapidly growing- population of over 300,000 souls. They are 
mainly devoted to ranching and corn-growing, unlike the districts fur- 
ther east, where the lumber trade is the great industry. The Canadian 
Pacific has an imperial as well as a colonial importance, since it provides 
a quick route to the extreme East, passing entirely through British terri- 
tory. About 1 1 00 miles is saved in passing from Liverpool to 
Japan or Northern China, if the route by Halifax, Montreal and Vancou- 
ver is taken rather than that by the Suez Canal and Singapore. 

IRISH AGITATION. 

At the opening of the year 1880 the condition of Ireland was 
causing much anxiety, and that anxiety, through many changes of 
form, constantly increased. Fear was everywhere felt of an impend- 
ing famine, and the Conservative Ministry were violently assailed 
for not taking adequate measures to avert loss of life. It proved, how- 
ever, that even in the most greviously afflicted districts the provision 
made by public assistance or private alms for the relief of distress was 
ample, nor has the malignity of anti-English agitators been able to point 
to the spectacle of a starving community. 

But, while the alarm of famine and the lavish expenditure upon re- 
lief combined to demoralize the Irish people, the followers of Mr. Parnell 
steadily labored to raise a popular cry against the payment of rent. At 
the outset the distress was made the pretext of a refusal to fulfill con- 
tracts relating to land, but Mr. Parnell very soon advanced to a more 
commanding position. He advised the peasantry to ''hold the land," and 
to pay only so much rent as they deemed fair, and he allowed it to be 
plainly seen that his ultimate object was the separation of Ireland from 
Great Britain. Early in the year Mr. Parnell visited the United States 
with the object of raising a fund, partly for the relief of distress, and 
partly for the promotion of his political objects at home. His success 
was not conspicuous, but his influence as the rallying-point of disaffected 
feeling in Ireland was increased, and at the general election more than 
half of the Home Rule candidates had to pledge themselves to follow 
him blindly. 

CRIME IN IRELAND. 

After Parliament was prorogued the language of Mr. Parnell and 
his lieutenants grew more fierce, and agrarian crime increased with fright^ 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 539 

ful rapidity. The Land League proceeded to enact that tenants should 
nowhere pay more than Griffith's valuation, which was at least 25 
per cent, under the letting value of ordinary land when the basis of 
rating was fixed according to the low standard of agricultural prices 
ruling a generation ago. Attempts to resist this decision, either on the 
part of landlords demanding their due, or of tenants willing to pay, were 
punished by atrocious outrages, including murder, maiming, destruction 
of cattle and crops, and torture inflicted on men and animals. 

" BOYCOTTING." 

But even these disclosures had less effect in arousing public opin- 
ion in England than the extraordinary system of intimidation put in 
force against Captain Boycott, Lord Erne's agent near Lough Mask, 
on the borders of Galway and Mayo. Captain Boycott had incurred the 
enmity of the Land League by attempting to enforce the payment of 
rent, and sentence of social excommunication was passed upon him. 
His servants and laborers were ordered to leave him, shopkeepers were 
forbidden to deal with him, his cattle and crops were doomed to perish of 
neglect. The victim could have obtained assistance from England or 
from Ulster, but that it was well known that the lives of the new-comers 
would have been in extreme danger. Police protection was utterly 
powerless, and intimidation would have carried its point without check 
had not the spirit of the Ulster men been stirred up, and an expedi- 
tion for the "relief" of Lough Mask House been organized among the 
tenant farmers of Cavan and Monaghan. The Government became 
seriously alarmed at the prospect of a collision between the relief party 
and the peasantry. An army of nearly 1000 men, with cavalry, infan- 
try and artillery all complete, was despatched to the scene of action, 
and the "invaders," as the Land League styled them, were allowed to 
gather in part of Captain Boycott's crops. 

But when the work was done Captain Boycott's position was little 
better than before. He had to leave the farm in which he had sunk all 
his capital, and which was surrendered to the pranks of malignity and 
rapine. The impossibility of keeping intimidation at bay by the use of 
troops to protect individuals was strikingly demonstrated. " Boycotting" 
became general, and although resting upon criminal threats or outrages, 
it has been carried on without effectual resistance on the part of the law. 



54° STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

MONTENEGRO. 

In 1880 the Porte had not given effect to any of the numerous compro 
mises suggested for solving the Montenegrin frontier difficulty, on the pre 
tence that opposition of the Albanians made it impossible to execute th< 
transfer of territory acknowledged in principle to be a part of the settle 
ment imposed by the treaty ; and had all along refused to accept as binding 
the recommendation of the protocol adopted at Berlin, that a large part 
of Thessaly and Epirus should be ceded to Greece. Both questions were 
taken in hand by the Powers after the change of ministry in England. 

Ultimately the powers decided upon insisting that the town and dis- 
trict of Dulcigno should be peacefully surrendered to Montenegro by a 
fixed date. In the event of a non-compliance a naval demonstration, 
representing all the Powers, was to take place. Turkey still held back, 
and a conjoint squadron under the British admiral, Sir Beauchamp Sey- 
mour, assembled at Ragusa. The immediate effect was not pacific. 
Kadri Pasha's ministry fell, and Said returned to power. For awhile it 
appeared that a conflict could not be avoided. The Sultan addressed a 
letter to the European ambassadors declaring that until the naval demon- 
stration was withdrawn he could not entertain the question of surren- 
dering Dulcigno. On the other hand, though the allied squadron had 
taken up a menacing position close to the scene of the cession demanded, 
the admirals were not empowered to accede to the demand of Montene- 
gro for active aid and a guarantee of indemnity. The Porte, perceiving 
the hesitation of the Powers, published a note on October 4, 1880, which 
was generally regarded as a defiance of Europe. 

The issue between the policies of conflicting coercion and suasion 
could no longer be avoided by the European cabinets. It has since be- 
come known that the policy of coercion could not have been insisted 
upon without entailing the rupture of the European concert. The British 
Government proposed that the fleet should be dispatched to Smyrna 
with a view to putting pressure upon the Sultan by the sequestration of 
the customs revenues. Russia and Italy were willing to join in this pro- 
ject, but Austria and Germany were disinclined to accept any share of 
responsibility. The scale was turned by France, where a singular retro- 
gressive movement of public opinion had taken place, and where even 
the influence of M. Gambetta in favor of an active policy in the East had 
been overpowered. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 54 1 

The proposal with respect to Smyrna was, therefore, stillborn. But 
the menace, though never adopted by the Powers, sufficed to bring the 
Porte to a sudden submission, and four days after the issue of the defiant 
note it was announced that Dulcigno would be surrendered uncondition- 
ally, the Sultan, however, expressing a hope that in consequence the 
naval demonstration would be withdrawn. When it leaked out by and 
by that the Powers were not in accord, and would not have proceeded 
to measures of coercion, the zeal for concession cooled at Constanti- 
nople, and for several weeks the allied fleet paraded the Adriatic, while 
the Turks were raising new difficulties about the details of the surrender 
and conjuring up the spectre of an Albanian rising. At last the matter 
was put into the hands of a resolute man, Dervish Pasha, who showed 
the Albanians that he could and would fight. He occupied Dulcigno 
without serious resistance and handed it over to the Montenegrins. 

NIHILISM. 

Russia was perturbed by the mysterious movements of nihilism. A 
desperate attempt to blow up the Winter Palace at St. Petersburg nar- 
rowly missed its object in February, 1880, the Czar's life being saved by 
a combination of accidents. This outrage led to the suspension of pub- 
lic liberty and the transfer of dictatorial power to General MelikofT. 
The death of the Empress supplied an additional motive for the Czar's 
retirement from active life, by allowing him to enter into a morganatic 
marriage with the Princess Dolgorouky. 

ZULU AND TRANSVAAL WARS. 

The Transvaal Republic in South Africa in 1876 became involved in 
a disastrous war with the Kaffirs, and was threatened with extermination. 
Appeal was made to Great Britain for aid, which was granted, and the 
Kaffirs were pacified and the Transvaal saved. The deplorable state 
into which the Transvaal had fallen through misgovernment led its chief 
men, however, to ask for annexation to Great Britain, and this was 
effected in 1877, 

This led to trouble with the Zulus, with whom the Transvaal 
Boers had been at war, and a war between Great Britain and the Zulu 
nation ensued in 1879. On January 2 2d the British met with disaster 
at Isandula, but won a victory at Ginglovo on April 2d, and another on 



54 2 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

April 3d at Ekowe. Louis Napoleon, the Prince Imperial of France, 
who went out to serve in the British army, was killed by the Zulus in 
a skirmish on June 1st. On July 4th the Zulus were crushed at Ulundi, 
and their King, Cetywayo, was captured on August 28th. Since that 
time Zululand has been a part of the British Empire. 

The Boers were, however, dissatisfied with British rule, and on 
November i, 1880, they revolted to regain their independence. On Feb- 
ruary 27th a small detachment of British troops was overwhelmed and 
nearly annihilated by the Boers at Majuba Hill, and a month later Great 
Britain granted autonomy to the Transvaal and withdrew her forces. 

POPE AND KING. 

Victor Emanuel, King of Italy, died on January 9, 1878, and was suc- 
ceeded by his son Humbert. On February 7th the Pope, Pius IX, died, 
and on February 20th was succeeded by Leo XII. 

An attempt was made by Hoedel to murder the German Emperor 
on May 4, 1878, and on June 2d following Nobiling succeeded in 
wounding the venerable monarch. These men being Socialists, the 
German Parliament in October of that year passed a stringent anti- 
Socialist law. 

The Ten Years War in Cuba came to a close in 1878 on Spain's 
promise of reforms, which, however, were never granted. 

The year 1879 began with much political agitation in France, whijh 
culminated on January 30th in the resignation of President MacMahon. 
Jules Grevy was chosen to succeed him, and Gambetta became President 
of the Chamber of Deputies. 

On April 28, 1879, Prince Alexander of Battenburg was elected 
Prince of Bulgaria. 

In the same year Ismail, Khedive of Egypt, was deposed by the 
Porte, and his son Tewfik was proclaimed his successor. A war broke 
out in that year between Peru and Bolivia on the one side, and Chili on 
the other. It lasted until the middle of the next year, and ended in the 
triumph of the Chilians, who annexed a province of Peru. 

The year 1880 was made memorable in Europe by the campaign of 
the French Government, led by Jules Ferry, against the Jesuits and other 
Roman Catholic organizations, by the granting of amnesty to the exiled 
Communists, and by the outrageous persecution of the Jews in Germany. 



CHAPTER XLII. 



Stanley's Great Explorations in Africa— Vindication of Stanley— Stan- 
ley's Third Expedition— Paris Exposition— Arctic Exploration- 
Cologne Cathedral — Modern Inventions — Necrology. 



THE opening of the African Continent to civilization, to which 
Livingstone had contributed so much, proceeded unchecked after 
that great explorer's death. His work was taken up by the man 
who had gone to his relief, and who, in that remarkable journey, 
had become infected with the irresistible fascination which Africa seems 
to have for all who seek to penetrate her wildernesses. 

On his second voyage Mr. Stanley arrived at Zanzibar in the fall of 
1874, from which point he started inland, looking for Lake Victoria 
Nyanza, with a force of 300 men. The journey overland was one of 
great hardships and many contests with the natives. He reached the 
lake on February 27, 1875, having in the meantime lost 194 men by 
death and desertion. With a boat which he had brought with him in 
pieces, he made a voyage around the lake and found it to be a single 
large lake, and not one of a series of lagoons, as was supposed by 
Burton and Livingstone. He found it to contain 40,000 square miles, 
and to be, therefore, the largest body of fresh water on the globe. His 
next move was westward toward Lake Albert Edward Nyanza. The 
result of this exploration was to prove that the latter lake was not con- 
nected with Lake Tanganyika. The hostility of the natives forced Mr. 
Stanley to retire to Ujiji, and at this point he determined to descend the 
great river discovered by Livingstone, and believed by him to be the 
Nile. Stanley's investigation determined the fact that the river was none 
other than the Congo, the mouth of which was reached by him August 
12, 1877. From this long period of exploration he returned to England 
in February, 1878. 

VINDICATION OF STANLEY 

Mr. Stanley's own countrymen were for a long time apparently 
indisposed to do him justice. His first Central African journey in search 

543 



544 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

of Livingstone was so unexpectedly successful that his story seemed 
incredible to many who were unacquainted with African exploration. To 
every student of that fascinating subject the evidences of the substantial 
truth of Stanley's narrative were to be found in every page of his book, 
but in one respect its very truthfulness stimulated the scepticism of those 
who fancied that a young newspaper reporter would find it easier to say 
that he had been to Lake Tanganyika than to go there. They pointed 
out that Stanley had represented Livingstone as saying or writing things 
which a grave Scotch missionary would never have thought of, and they 
thereupon jumped to the conclusion that Stanley had never met the 
veteran explorer. Of course when Livingstone's last journal reached 
England the truth of Stanley's narrative was confirmed in every particu- 
lar, and perhaps he afterward forgave the temporary incredulity of some 
of his countrymen when he remembered that it was the very splendor of 
his achievement which made it seem incredible. 

In his second great journey Stanley placed himself at the very head 
of African explorers. He crossed the continent of Africa by descending 
the Congo, a task which Livingstone had failed to accomplish, and which 
Cameron had decided to be impracticable. This, of itself, was the 
grandest achievement of which the history of African exploration has any 
record, but it was only a part of what Stanley accomplished. He 
thoroughly surveyed the Victoria Lake, and nearly completed a like 
survey of Tanganyika. He ascertained that the river Shirneeyu is the 
largest affluent of Victoria Lake, and hence the true beginning of the 
Nile, and he established the fact that the Lualaba and the Congo are one 
and the same. 

STANLEY'S THIRD EXPEDITION. 

His third visit to Africa was made in 1879, at which time he was 
sent out by the Brussels African International Association, with a view of 
developing the basin of the Congo River. The King of the Belgians 
devoted from his own pocket ,£50,000 per annum toward the cost of the 
enterprise. Stanley completed this work in 1884, having established 
trading posts all along the Congo, from its mouth to Stanley Station, a 
distance of 1400 miles. A description of his labors in this field was pub- 
lished by him in 1885 under the title, "The Congo and the Founding of 
Its Free State." 




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I900-UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT BUILDING. PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 547 

PARIS EXPOSITION, 

A world's fair was held in Paris in 1878. Especial interest was felt 
in it, because of the dreadful losses France had suffered only a few years 
before, and there were those who doubted whether the nation had 
sufficiently recovered from the effects of the war with Germany to con- 
duct such an affair successfully. The result was most gratifying. The 
fair exceeded in magnitude and splendor even the majestic exhibition 
given in Philadelphia two years before, and the attendance of visitors 
was nearly 50 per cent, more numerous. Never had the world seen a 
more noteworthy example of popular and national revival from over- 
whelming depression. 

ARCTIC EXPLORATION. 

The ill-fated " Jeannette" expedition to the Arctic regions, sent out by 
Mr. Bennett, of the " New York Herald," left San Francisco on July 8, 
1879. ^ passed through Behring Strait and entered the Arctic Ocean. 
Its course was shaped toward the west, with the intention of passing 
along the northern coast of Asia. Slow progress was made, however, 
and on June 23, 1881, the ship was crushed in the ice. Some of the 
company made their way to the Siberian coast and were saved, but 
Lieutenant DeLong, the commander, and many others, perished. 

A noteworthy expedition was undertaken in 1878 by Dr. Nor- 
denskiold, a Swedish scientist, in the ship "Vega," under the patronage 
of Oscar Dickson, a merchant of Gothenburg. This expedition made 
its way successfully along the Siberian coast, doing much exploring 
work and taking many scientific observations. Finally it emerged 
through Behring Strait and entered the Pacific Ocean. Thus the North- 
east Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific was successfully explored. 
The "Vega" reached Yokohama, Japan, on September 2, 1879. 

COLOGNE CATHEDRAL. 

The cathedral of Cologne, one of the most noteworthy edifices in 
the world, was finally completed in 1880. This building was begun on 
August 15, 1248. After intermittent labors upon it, work was in 1509 
suspended, not to be resumed for three centuries. In 1848, on the six 
hundredth anniversary of its foundation, the body of the cathedral was 
opened for use with imposing ceremonies Finally the building was 



548 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

declared finished on August 14, 1880, and on October 15th, following, 
it was formally opened in the presence of the German Emperor and 
other sovereigns. Its chief spire is 510 feet high. 

MODERN INVENTIONS. 

The telephone and electric light, of which we have hitherto spoken, 
during the years 1877-81 came into general use, having been perfected 
to a practical degree. At the same time Thomas A. Edison and other 
inventors were busy devising other electrical and mechanical devices. 
The phonograph was among these, also various forms of electric motors 
for operating machinery and for propelling railroad cars. In these years 
the building of the elevated railroads in New York City was begun. 
The typewriter, one of the most useful of inventions, was first publicly 
exhibited in 1875, and by 1880 began to be generally used. In 1879 a 
transatlantic cable from France to the United States was opened for use. 
An ancient Egyptian obelisk, popularly called Cleopatra's Needle, was 
in 1880 brought to the United States, and on January 22, 1881, it was 
set up in Central Park, New York. 

NECROLOGY. 

The deaths of 1877 included those of John Lothrop Motley, the 
historian ; Thiers, the French statesman and ex-President, and Leverrier, 
the astronomer. In 1878 died Joseph Henry, the scientist of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, Washington, and William Cullen Bryant, the poet. 
Espartero, the Spanish Dictator, and Garrison, the Anti-Slavery leader, 
died in 1879. In 1880 died Pierce, the scientist, George Eliot, the 
novelist, and Jules Favre, the French statesman. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 



James A. Garfield becomes President of the United States — President 
Arthur— The Isthmian Canal — Star Route Trials— Anti- Polygamy 
Law — Chinese Exclusion — Irish- American Convention — Ex- 
hibitions and Conventions — Foreign Envoys — The New 
Navy — Financial Panic — Political Doings. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD, of Ohio, became President of the United 
States on March 4th, 1881. He had been nominated after a severe 
struggle within the Republican party, and when he became Presi- 
dent there was a strong faction of that party in Congress and else- 
where inclined to regard him with half-concealed antagonism. An open 
breach was in a few days caused by the President's choice of certain men 
for certain offices, and the two Senators from the State of New York, 
Roscoe Conkling and T. C. Piatt, resigned their seats as an act of protest. 
Their friends sought to re-elect them, but after a long struggle failed to 
do so. 

Meantime political passions ran high, and a disappointed office- 
seeker of unsound mind on July 2 shot the President in the back, in 
a railroad station in Washington. The President lingered for many 
weeks between life and death, and finally died on September 19, to the 
unspeakable grief of the nation. His assassin, who had no accomplices, 
was arrested, tried and put to death. 

PRESIDENT ARTHUR. 

Upon the death of President Garfield, the Vice-President, Chester 
A. Arthur, became President. He bad belonged to the faction of the 
Republican party opposed to President Garfield. He now, however, 
showed himself impartial in his attitude, and gave the country a particu- 
larly wise and dignified Administration. One of the first and most bene- 
ficent acts of his administration was the adoption, at his recommendation, 

549 



550 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

of a law for the reform of the civil service, by basing appointments upon 
ascertained merit and prohibiting removals except for cause. This law 
was scrupulously enforced by President Arthur, and was the first of the 
series of enactments by which the civil service of the United States has 
been put upon its present reformed basis, 

THE ISTHMIAN CANAL. 

A French corporation had been formed for the construction of a 
ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama. This led the Secretary of 
State, Mr. Blaine, to issue on June 24, 1881, a note to the Powers, to 
the effect that any movement of European Powers jointly to guarantee 
the neutrality of that canal would be regarded by the United States as 
an uncalled-for interference with American rights. A prolonged con- 
troversy upon this subject continued for some years. 

STAR ROUTE TRIALS. 

A great political and public scandal was caused by the discovery 
that extensive frauds had been committed upon the Government by certain 
contractors for carrying the mails, upon what were known as Star Routes. 
On March 4, 1882, eight men, including several of national prominence, 
were indicted in the Criminal Court of the District of Columbia for 
frauds and conspiracy to defraud the Government. Flaws were found 
in the indictment, and a new one was made, with one name omitted, and 
the trial began on June 1. On September 11 a verdict was rendered, 
finding two guilty, two not guilty, and disagreeing as to the rest. A 
new trial began on December 4, and on June 14, 1883, a verdict of not 
guilty was rendered. 

ANTI-POLYGAMY LAW. 

The question of Mormon Polygamy in Utah had now become a 
pressing one. The continued existence of this "twin relic of barbarism" 
was deemed a reproach to the nation. Accordingly on the initiative of 
Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, a law was enacted on March 22, exclud- 
ing bigamists and polygamists in the territories from holding office 
or voting. This was the beginning of the campaign against polygamy 
which finally led to the renunciation of that practice by Utah upon the 
admission of that territory as a State. 






1900— LEADING RULERS OF THE WORLD 




1900— LEADING RULERS OF THE WORLD (continued) 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 553 

CHINESE EXCLUSION. 

During the preceding administration an attempt had been made by 
Congress to enact a law excluding Chinese immigrants from the United 
States. It had been thwarted by the veto of the President. Another 
bill was now passed providing for such exclusion for a term of twenty 
years. President Arthur vetoed it on April 4, 1882. Finally, on May 
6th, a law was enacted suspending the immigration of Chinese laborers 
for ten years, and excluding Chinese from citizenship. 

IRISH-AMERICAN CONVENTION. 

Agitation for secession from Great Britain was now rife in Ireland, 
and commanded much sympathy among Americans of Irish birth. In 
April, 1883, a great Irish- American National Convention was held in 
Philadelphia, at which about 1600 delegates were present. A perma- 
nent organization was formed, the object being to sustain the National 
League in Ireland, and to promote the interests of Irish independence 
by agitation in the United States. 

EXHIBITIONS AND CONVENTIONS. 

The Arthur administration was notable for the number of exhibitions 
and conventions which were held during it in the United States. Some 
of the foremost of these may be briefly enumerated. An international 
cotton exhibition was opened at Atlanta, Ga., on October 5, 1881. On 
October 19th, the one hundredth anniversary of the surrender of the 
British at Yorktown was elaborately commemorated. In August, 1882, 
a National Mining and Industrial Exhibition was opened at Denver, Col. 
On May 24, 1883, a National Exhibition of Railroads and Railroad Ap- 
pliances was opened at Chicago. A Southern Exposition was opened at 
Louisville, Ky., by the President on August 1st ; the American Forestry 
Congress met at St. Paul, Minn., on August 9th, and the Foreign Exhi- 
bition at Boston opened on September 3d. On September 4, 1884, an 
International Electrical Exhibition opened in Philadelphia. An Interna- 
tional Conference to adopt a common prime meridian was opened at 
Washington on October 1st, twenty- five nations being represented. On 
October 1 3th it adopted the meridian of Greenwich, 2 1 voting for it, San 
Domingo opposing it, and France and Brazil not voting. A World's In- 

2 9 



554 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

dustrial Cotton Exhibition was opened at New Orleans on December, 
1 6th, 1884. 

FOREIGN ENVOYS. 

The first envoys from the Queen of Madagascar to the United States 
were received by President Arthur at Washington on March 7, 1883. In 
September following the first Corean envoys were also received. An- 
other interesting incident was the opening, on September 21, 1883, of a 
direct cable between the United States and Brazil, when congratulatory 
messages were exchanged by the President and Emperor. 

THE NEW NAVY. 

During the Civil War the United States navy was made probably 
the most powerful in the world, and by the invention of the "Monitor" 
it revolutionized naval science. After the war, however, it rapidly fell 
into neglect and decay, and by the time of which we are writing it had 
become quite inadequate to the needs of the country. President Arthur 
therefore took the initiative in the construction of a new navy. On 
March 26, 1884, he sent a special message to Congress, asking for an 
appropriation of money with which to begin the much needed work of 
naval construction. A small appropriation was granted, and the work 
was promptly begun, which, continued on the lines laid down by Presi- 
dent Arthur, has now resulted in riving the United States one of the 
finest navies in the world. 

FINANCIAL PANIC. 

The failure of the firm of Grant & Ward, of New York, early in 
May, 1884, was the beginning of a disastrous p^nic, which involved many 
firms in New York and elsewhere in the country, and kept business in an 
unsettled state for some time. 

Great floods occurred in the Ohio River Villey in February, 1884, 
the Ohio River rising at Cincinnati no less than 71 feet. Congress appro- 
priated $500,000 for the relief of the sufferers. 

The Northern Pacific Railroad was completed on September 9, 1883. 
In November, 1883, the present system of standard railroad time went 
into force throughout the United States. 

The corner-stone of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in New 
York harbor was laid on August 5, 1884, and on December 6th fol- 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 555 

lowing the capstone of the Washington monument at Washington was 
put into place. The latter monument was formally dedicated on Feb- 
ruary 21, 1885. 

On February 26, 1885, was enacted the so-called contract labor law, 
forbidding the importation of aliens under contract for service in this 
country. 

POLITICAL DOINGS. 

The first of the important movements in the Presidential campaign 
of 1884 was the Greenback National Convention, at which General B. F. 
Butler was nominated for President, and A. M. West for Vice-President. 
The Republicans nominated James G. Blaine and John A. Logan ; the 
Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland, then Governor of New York, 
and Thomas A. Hendricks ; and the Prohibitionists, John P. St. John and 
William Daniel. The campaign was marked by the ferocity of the at- 
tacks made upon the personal characters of Messrs. Blaine and Cleve- 
land. Never before in American history had there been such an amount 
of what was appropriately termed "mud-throwing." The result of the poll- 
ing was very close, the election being decided by a margin of only 1200 
votes in the State of New York. Finally the Democratic candidates, 
Cleveland and Hendricks, were declared elected, and they received 219 
and the Republican candidates 182 electoral votes. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 



Memorable Events Throughout the World — The Irish Problem — Egyptian 
Revolution — Bombardment of Alexandria — Fall of Arabi — The 
Soudan — Gordon to the Rescue — In Khartoum — Der- 
vishes Closing In — Siege of Khartoum — The 
Relief Expedition — Hero and Martyr. 



THE year 1881 presents a record of memorable and important 
events in almost every country in the world. In Great Britain the 
Irish difficulties grew to the most formidable proportions ; British 
agriculture, already sorely smitten, had to bear the keen disap- 
pointment of another unfavorable harvest. France was drawn into the 
perilous labyrinth of the Tunisian expedition, while in her domestic poli- 
tics the republic lost much of the character for moderation which made 
her, in M. Thiers' phrase, the Government that "divides the least." In 
Germany, as in France, and also in Holland, in Belgium, in Spain, in 
Hungary, and in Bulgaria, public opinion was agitated by general elec- 
tions ; political feuds were embittered, and the dominance of Prince 
Bismarck threatened. 

THE IRISH PROBLEM. 

The British politics of the year were moulded and colored through- 
out by the predominant influence of the Irish question. At the beginning 
of the year the opening of Parliament a month before the usual time had 
been arranged, and the critical situation of affairs was no longer denied, 
even by extreme Radicals. The character of the "reign of terror" 
established in Ireland by the Land League was powerfully exhibited in 
the speeches made by Mr. Forster in the House of Commons when 
moving for the introduction of the Coercion Bills, while the extracts from 
the speeches and writings of the leading Land Leaguers, read at the trial 
of Mr. Parnell and his associates in Dublin for conspiracy to prevent the 
payment of rents, showed clearly by what audaciously perverse teaching 
the Irish peasantry had been demoralized. This trial terminated, as had 
been generally anticipated, in a disagreement of the jury. 

556 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 557 

EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION. 

A world-stirring event was the attempted revolution in Egypt in 
1882, under the lead of Arabi Pasha, who had been Minister of War, and 
who had put himself at the head of a mutiny in the army. On the 25th 
of May the English and French Consuls-General presented an ultimatum 
to the Egyptian Ministers, demanding the temporary removal from the 
country of Arabi and two other leaders of the mutinous soldiery, and the 
resignation of the Ministry. The Khedive gladly assented to these 
terms, but the army and the Nationalists, not believing that the fleets 
would be allowed to fire a shot, and believing, with better reason, that the 
Sultan would not jeopardize his power as Caliph in a conflict for Chris- 
tians against Moslems, were obstinate and threatening. The Ministers 
resigned, but the Khedive could find none to succeed them. His ap- 
peals to the Ulema, the Notables, the heads of departments, and the 
officers were met with insolent defiance. The army clamored for the 
restoration of Arabi, and warned the trading classes that unless the 
Khedive yielded, life and property would not be safe. The Khedive 
did yield, and quickened the flight of Europeans from Cairo to Alex- 
andria, where hundreds crowded into the ships in the roads. Whether 
Arabi remained master of the situation or the Western Powers forcibly 
interfered, the danger appeared equally great. 

BOMBARDMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. 

In view of probable action, Arabi's preparations for resistance at 
Alexandria could not be overlooked. In spite of broken pledges, and 
orders from the Khedive and the Sultan, Sir Beauchamp Seymour re- 
ported that the works on the forts were actively carried on, and on the 
6th of July the admiral demanded their instant cessation under penalty 
of bombardment. Protests by the Khedive and the foreign consuls were 
outweighed by Arabi's practical defiance, and on the 10th Sir Beauchamp 
Seymour insisted on the surrender of the forts at the mouth of the har- 
bor as a material guarantee. The Egyptian ministers strove to negotiate, 
but the admiral's resolution was fixed, and Arabi, confident in the strength 
of the forts, had no thought of yielding. In the early morning of the 
nth, eight British ironclads and five gunboats advanced to the attack. 
The Egyptian guns, of large calibre and modern construction, were well 
served, but in a few hours the forts were battered down or silenced, with 



55& STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

slight loss on the British side and with trifling damage to the ships. 
Next day, as the bombardment was about to be renewed, negotiations 
were opened by the display of flags of truce, under cover of which the 
Egyptian forces evacuated the town, setting fire to the European quar- 
ter and letting loose upon it gangs of reckless plunderers. Fortunately 
a plan for the Khedive's murder was balked, and the British bluejackets 
and marines quickly restored order in the streets. In a few days a small 
body of British troops was landed under Sir Archibald Alison, who was, 
however, neither able nor authorized to strike a blow at Arabi's army. 

FALL OF ARABI. 

The Khedive at length proclaimed Arabi a rebel, and Lord Duf- 
ferin invited the Sultan to issue a similar proclamation before joining 
the expedition. The procrastination of the Porte tided the British Gov- 
ernment over a difficult crisis. Diplomatic questions were still at issue 
when the reinforcements from England began to land at Alexandria, on 
the ioth of August. Admiral Hewett had occupied Suez, to be ready for 
the Indian contingent, a week earlier. Sir Garnet Wolseley, the com- 
mander of the expedition, arrived in Egypt on the 15th, a day or two 
before the parliamentary adjournment, with Sir John Adye as chief of the 
staff and second in command ; and General Macpherson, with the Indian 
troops, appeared at the Red Sea port a few days later. Sir Garnet 
Wolseley' s plan of campaign was to advance on Cairo by the Fresh- 
water Canal. Though supplies were short and the railway almost use- 
less from lack of engines and rolling stock carried off by Arabi, it was 
thought necessary to push on. After the repulse of an attack on the 
advanced British posts at Kassassin on the 28th, Arabi and his army 
retired on a strongly entrenched position at Tel-el-Kebir. For a fortnight 
the British general reserved his final blow ; even successful skirmishes 
were not followed up. At length, on the evening of the 12th of Sep- 
tember, orders were issued for an assault on the Egyptian position. 
The troops, numbering under 14,000 men, with 60 guns, began to move 
before dawn, and had drawn close to the Tel-el-Kebir lines unnoticed be- 
fore 5 o'clock. The instant the alarm was given the British soldiery 
charged, and after a few minutes' struggle the enemy's intrenchments 
were won. The Egyptian army fled in wild rout toward Cairo, outrun 
by Arabi himself. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 559 

No time was lost in pursuing the advantage of this complete and 
crushing victory. General Drury-Lowe advanced by a forced march on 
the capital, which was instantly surrendered by the Governor, and occu- 
pied peaceably by a mere handful of British troops. Arabi and his lieu- 
tenant, Toulba Pasha, gave themselves up, and Cairo welcomed the vic- 
tors, as they rapidly arrived, with demonstrations of hostility to the rebels. 
The rebellion soon died out ; strong positions at Kafr-dawar, Aboukir 
and Damietta were surrendered, the insurgent army disbanded, and only 
a few of the chiefs held in custody. The Khedive returned in triumph 
from Alexandria to Cairo, where, September 30, the victorious British 
troops were paraded before him. Arabi was exiled to Ceylon. 

THE SOUDAN. 

The re-conquest of the Soudan from the " Mahdi," a pretended 
prophet or reformer of Islam, who during the troubles at Cairo had 
become supreme throughout the vast and vague regions south of Khar- 
toum, was attempted in March, 1883, when Colonel Hicks, a retired 
Anglo-Indian officer, was despatched as chief of the staff, and with the 
Egyptian troops achieved, a few weeks later, a victory over the Mahdi' s 
forces, which, however, was not decisive. Hicks Pasha later became com- 
mander-in-chief, and in the autumn advanced again upon the centre of 
Mahdi's strength at Obeid. For weeks nothing was known of his move- 
ments, but at length the news reached Khartoum that the whole of the 
Egyptian army, with the general and the other European officers, had 
been surrounded and destroyed by the rebels. The consternation at 
Cairo was profound, for not long before some troops moving near Sua- 
kim, the post on the Red Sea through which intercourse with Khartoum 
was kept up, had suffered heavy loss, the British Consul, Captain Mon- 
crieft, having fallen among others. The remnants of Hicks Pash?'^. 
force were, for the most part, drawn together in Khartoum by another 
English officer, though some outlying posts were left to themselves. It 
was doubted whether Khartoum could hold out, and the difficulty was 
increased by the folly of the Governor of Suakim, in a mismanaged 
sortie. 

GORDON TO THE RESCUE. 

It was on November 20, 1883, that the news of the Mahdi's victory 
over General Hicks reached Cairo and London. For several weeks 



560 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

succeeding the arrival of the news there was panic in Cairo and con- 
fusion in the councils in London. 

On January 17th General Charles Gordon received at noon, in 
Brussels, a telegram from Lord Wolseley summoning him at once to 
London. He understood what it meant : those who had first claim had 
called him, and he obeyed instantly. At 6 a.m. on the morning of the 
1 8th he was in London, and had prolonged interviews with Lord Wolse- 
ley. At 3.30 p.m. on the same day he saw several of the Ministers. 
This last interview is so important, looked at in the light of what fol- 
lowed, that it had best be described in his own words : 

"At noon he, Wolseley, came to me and took me to the Ministers. 
He went in and talked to the Ministers, and came back and said, ' Her 
Majesty's Government want you to undertake this : Government are 
determined to evacuate Soudan, for they will not guarantee future gov- 
ernment. Will you go and do it?' I said, 'Yes.' He said, 'Go in.' I 
went in and saw them. They said, ' Did Wolseley tell you our orders ?' 
I said, ' Yes.' I said, ' You will not guarantee future government of 
Soudan, and you wish me to go up to evacuate now.' They said, 'Yes,' 
and it was over, and I left at 8 p.m. for Calais." 

IN KHARTOUM. 

On February 18th Gordon reached Khartoum and took up his 
quarters in the palace which had so often in past years been his lonely 
home, and which was destined a few months later to become his tomb. 
"He had come again to hold the balance level," he told the people. 
"There were to be no more Bashi-Bazouks. He had not brought 
troops, but had come alone. He would not fight with any weapons 
but justice." Then the chains were struck off the captives' limbs in the 
crowded prisons ; the records of unremitted taxes were burned in the 
palace square, and the stocks and bastinado instruments were broken up. 

DERVISHES CLOSING IN. 

On March 10th the situation has become still more threatening. 
The village of El-Fon, on the Blue Nile, is reported to be " full of rebel 
Arabs with banners." The Sheikh el-Mugdi, a leader supposed to be 
faithful to the Government, reports most of the sheikhs in and around 
Khartoum to be traitors. Many of the Government clerks in the city 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 56 1 

are also false. Berber and Khartoum will be simultaneously attacked, 
he thinks. 

At noon on this day the telegraph wire is severed between Shendy 
and Berber, and on the following morning, March nth, a large force of 
Arabs appear on the right bank of the Blue Nile within sight of Khar- 
toum. The Suakim expedition was described at the time as being due 
to "Parliament having forced the running" of the Government. Alas, 
that momentous issues of life, death and disaster should be made the 
weapons with which the ignoble strife of party is carried on. This forcing 
of the hand of Government also forced the Arab hand. Before it the 
chances of evacuation had certainly not diminished during the first fort- 
night of the experiment, nay, they had steadily improved, but henceforth 
there was no hope. 

The operations around Suakim lasted exactly three weeks. When 
they began, Khartoum was open on every side ; when they ended, the 
siege had begun. 

SIEGE OF KHARTOUM. 

For nearly the first six months following the cutting off of communi- 
cation with Khartoum we know little of what took place in the beleag- 
uered city. During March, April and May ceaseless labor in earth- 
works, mines, wire-entanglements, expeditions for food, went on ; there 
was a good deal of desultory firing and fighting. In the middle of March, 
four days after the Arabs first sat down before Khartoum, a battle 
occurred, in which a portion of the garrison was signally defeated. The 
two Pachas in command, accused by their soldiers of treachery, were tried 
by court-martial and put to death. The cry of "treason" by beaten 
troops is a dangerous one to listen to, and whatever may have been the 
faults of Said and Hassan Pachas, there can be no doubt that their execu- 
tion was all too hastily decided on, and was a matter of deep regret to 
Gordon during the remainder of the siege. 

The intention of the Arabs was evidently to wear out the patience 
of the garrison by scarcity of food, and by the moral effect of a continuous 
attack always kept up, but never pressed home to a decisive point ; and 
there is a significant entry in the summary of the events of the first six 
months of the siege that Gordon wrote to Lord Wolseley which shows 
how well these tactics succeeded. "The square was always broken," he 
writes. At last the river was at its topmost height ; if any effort was tc 



562 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



be made to communicate with the outer world it must be done at once. 
It is now September ; for six months the weary work has gone on ; three 
months' food yet remains. Is there no one coming over that vast desert 
to the north, whose level horizon is visible for leagues and leagues from 
the palace roof, where day after day Gordon and his two companions, 
Stewart and Power, look out in expectation ? All the plans for evacu- 
ation, government and settlement of the Soudan have long ago given 
place to a weary fight against odds for life. Has the world gone to sleep 
away there, twelve hundred miles beyond that clear-cut line of sky and 
desert ? What are all these armies of Egypt and of England doing ? 
"You have untold stores of gold, and can you not at least make it into 
keys to unlock this terrible silence, sending us messengers if you will not 
send us soldiers ? " 

THE RELIEF EXPEDITION. 

It was at the end of the first week in August that the English 
Government finally decided to send out a relief expedition to the Soudan, 
but for another week after that date it was still possible for them to point 
with truth to the conflicting counsels and opposite opinions of their 
advisers at home and on the Nile. 

It was on the evening of August 12th that the project of a boat- 
expedition, first put forward by Lord Wolseley in April, and often urged 
by him in the succeeding months, was at length sanctioned. The race 
had now become a desperate one. The price that must be paid for time 
wasted in diluted despatch and condensed telegram, for all the windy 
methods of administrative delay, has to be given in flesh and blood ; and 
yet there is still time to win, but no hour can be let slip, no mile of all 
those thousands must be put off, even from sunset to the next sunrise ; 
and not one of the ten thousand links in the chain of this immense effort 
can be slackened for a single moment. 

Writing on September 17th, Gordon, summing up the reports that 
have reached him during the previous week of the advance of English 
troops by the Nile Valley to reach Khartoum, says, " I have the strongest 
suspicion that these tales of troops at Dongola and Meroe are all gas 
works, and if you wanted to find Her Majesty's forces you would have to 
go to Shepherd's hotel in Cairo." Alas, this estimate was even too san- 
guine ! It is true the first infantry battalion did reach Dongola about 
that date, but the boats which were to carry men and food over the cata- 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 563 

racts of the Batn-el-Hager were only beginning to arrive at Alexandria ; 
and the troops destined to form the desert column which was to cross 
the Bayuda from Korti to Metemma had not yet quitted England. 

HERO AND MARTYR. 

This is what had happened : Three hours before daybreak on Jan- 
uary 26th the Arabs made a final assault upon the lines. Of the details 
of this last attack we know very little. We know that the sight of the 
wounded from the battle of Abu Klea, who had been brought to the 
camp of the Mahdi, produced a profound effect upon the Baggara and 
other fighting tribes of the army. These men, inflamed at the appear- 
ance of their stricken comrades, loudly demanded to be led at once 
against the city. The attack, delivered under a chosen leader, in the 
darkest hour of the early morning, was directed against the lines near 
the gates of Bourre and Mesalamieh. 

On this morning of Monday, January 26th, the moon, just past its 
first quarter, set at 1 o'clock. From that hour until the earliest dawn, 
profound darkness wrapped the dying city and the hostile camps. It 
is certain that the Arabs, as they approached the ramparts, were met 
by the feeblest resistance. Hunger had now brought to the lowest 
point the spirit of a garrison never strong, but whether actual treach- 
ery added its black help to famine, or whether the wretched soldiery 
fell back from the parapets in panic before the first onset of the enemy, 
will probably never be accurately known. Once the lines were gained by 
the Arabs, the city lay at the mercy of its assailants. Shortly before day- 
break they appear to have advanced cautiously into the town, and as the 
winter dawn was breaking they reached the neighborhood of the palace. 
Here, certain that the entire city was now in their possession, they gave 
vent to those shrill shouts of triumph with which the soldiers of Islam 
celebrate victory. It was at this hour, just as day was breaking, that 
Gordon, roused from one of those short and troubled slumbers which for 
months had been his only rest, quitted the palace and moved, at the head 
of a small party of soldiers and servants, towards the church of the Aus- 
trian Mission. This building lay to the east of the palace, from which it 
was separated by an open space of ground. Some months earlier the 
church had been made the reserve magazine of the town, the surround- 
ing houses were cleared from its vicinity, and it had been silently selected 



564 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

as the spot where a last desperate resistance might be maintained if 
ever the final moment of the defence of Khartoum should arrive. 

That supreme moment had now indeed come. 

Walking a few yards in advance of his party, which did not number 
more than twenty men, Gordon drew near the church. The short and 
mysterious dawn of the desert was passing into broader day ; over the 
palm trees on the edge of the blue Nile the eastern sky was flushed with 
the red of the coming sun. From the lost town, still lying in shadow to 
the right, the shouts of a victorious enemy and the cries of a perishing 
people rose in deeper volumes of sound. Ere yet the little band of 
footmen had crossed the open space between palace and church, a 
body of Arabs issued from a neighboring street. For a moment the two 
parties stood almost face to face, then a volley of musketry flashed out 
at close range in the yet uncertain light, and the bravest and noblest 
soldier of our time was no more. 

We may close the record of the years in hand with the items that 
Roumania assumed the title of a Kingdom on March 26, 1881 ; that in 
the same year Russia seized Geok Tepe and made other conquests in 
Central Asia, and that in 1884 Germany began her great work of 
founding colonies in Africa. 



CHAPTER XLV. 



Panama Canal — Various Routes Surveyed — DeLesseps' Scheme — Re- 
organization — St. Gothard Tunnel — The East River Bridge — 
Great Earthquakes — Louis Pasteur — Necrology. 



THE common remark that the world is now in the Engineering Age 
is well borne out by the history of the four years now under con- 
sideration, namely, from the spring of 1881 to the spring of 1885. 
In those years engineering activity in many directions was 
signally manifest all over the world, and it was marked by at least 
three works of the greatest importance. 

The first of these, as yet unsuccessful, was the construction of a 
canal across the Central American Isthmus. This stupendous work was 
undertaken by Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French engineer and 
speculator, who had constructed the Suez Canal, and the place chosen 
was the Isthmus of Panama. Porto Bello, or Chagres, on the Caribbean 
Sea, and Old Panama on the Pacific were among the earliest settlements 
on the Isthmus, and the route between them has been an established line 
of communication from ocean to ocean since the middle of the seventeenth 
century. 

The moderate elevation of the summit pass, less than for all others 
except that of the Nicaragua route, and the narrow breadth of the Isthmus, 
caused it to be one of the earliest suggested lines for a canal, and induced 
many reconnaissances of the locality, including in 1827 one by Lloyd, an 
English engineer, but not until 1838 were any very definite steps under- 
taken. In that year Salamon, of Paris, who had secured a concession 
from the Columbian Government, organized a company to build an open 
sea-level canal,, proposing to follow substantially the lines of De Lesseps' 
subsequent attempt, the project being based upon the erroneous suppo- 
sition that a pass only forty feet above sea level had been discovered. 
On these representations the French Government five years later directed 
a more thorough examination of the line, which was really the first 
endeavor to obtain authentic information, and Garvella's surveys, which, 

565 



566 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

by the way, reported the divide to be nearly 400 feet above the sea 
instead of 40, have since formed the basis of subsequent projects. 

The rush of gold-seekers across the Isthmus to California brought 
about the construction of the Panama railroad, for which the concession 
was obtained in 1850, and the road opened for traffic in 1855. Bringing 
transit across the Isthmus more prominently before the public, it invited 
renewed attention to the feasibility of a canal, and induced increased 
interest in the subject, a project and estimate for a canal with locks being 
prepared by the chief engineer of the railway, which he believed could 
be completed for from $60,000,000 to $115,000,000, according to the 
summit level selected. 

VARIOUS ROUTES SURVEYED. 

President Grant was an earnest advocate of a canal, not necessarily, 
however, at Panama, and under his direction surveys were made in 1876 
along several routes by Commander Lull and Mr. Menocal of the navy. 
They did not consider a sea-level canal at Panama practicable, but pro- 
posed a plan for one with locks, following fairly closely the line of the 
railway, reaching the summit level at a height of 125 feet above the sea, 
and crossing the Cordilleras through the Culebra pass. The length 
would be about 45^2 miles, and the cost was estimated at $96,000,000. 

The next year Lieutenant Wyse, of the French navy, who had pro- 
cured a concession for a French association, spent four or five months 
with a party of surveyors in field work on the Isthmus, examining 
several modifications of the proposed line, but carrying none of his sur- 
veys completely through from ocean to ocean. He reported in favor of 
a sea-level canal by way of the Chagres and Rio Grande, involving a 
ship tunnel about 5 miles in length. His estimate was only $95,000,000, 
or less than Lull's for a canal with a summit level of 125 feet, whereas, 
of course it must cost much more. 

DE LESSEPS* SCHEME. 

On the strength of this report, Count Ferdinand »de Lesseps con 
ceived the idea of a conference to consider the various schemes for 
canals, and delegates to the proposed congress assembled at Paris in 
1879. Twenty-four countries were represented by 135 engineers and 
scientists, and a number of routes, including those at Nicaragua, Panama, 
Tehuantepec, Atrato and San Bias, were discussed. De Lesseps' in 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. rfiy 

fluence dominated the congress ; and, rendered sanguine by his success 
at Suez, he advocated a sea-level canal at Panama, substituting an open 
cut for the proposed tunnel, and secured its adoption by the congress by 
an overwhelming vote. The original estimate of cost was $120,000,000, 
subsequently increased by including the necessary harbor improvements, 
contingencies, expenses of financing, etc., to $210,000,000. 

Immediately after the adjournment of the congress a company was 
organized in France for building the canal, which secured the concession 
previously granted to Lieutenant Wyse, and in 1881 operations were 
begun on the Isthmus. The total length of the canal as projected was 
about 46 miles, following generally the line of the railway. It was to be 
72 to yS feet wide at the bottom and 92 to 164 feet at the water level, 
according to the nature of the banks, with a depth of 28 to 29^ feet. 
The cut through Culebra pass would be about 330 feet deep. The canal 
was to be completed by 1889. 

Progress, however, was slow, owing to the difficulty of disposing of 
the shares, by which the necessary funds were being provided, but mainly 
in consequence of the unforeseen difficulties of construction and the un- 
healthfulness of the climate. In 1885 a commission of French engineers 
examined the work, and, reporting that the date for completion must be 
extended, recommended its continuation to save the stockholders from 
ruin. By December, 1887, when nearly $275,000,000 had been spent, 
the sea-level project was abandoned and a system of eight locks decided 
upon, which Eiffel, the eminent engineer, agreed to complete in three 
years. 

REORGANIZATION. 

Another loan was obtained but further financial difficulties arose, 
resulting in the cessation of work for lack of funds in March, 1889. 
The receivers who acquired the property referred the technical questions 
involved in the canal construction to a commission selected from amono; 
the best engineers in France, which reported in May, 1890, recommend- 
ing further investigation of certain vital features of the route before 
definite plans could be adopted. 

The Government of Columbia extending the concession, a new com- 
pany was organized in 1894, further surveys were made, the commission 
for that purpose including General Abbot of this country, and, by 1897, 
fairly definite plans had been decided upon. To prosecute them another 



568 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

company has recently been formed, embracing a large amount of Ameri- 
can capital and incorporated under the laws of New Jersey. 

ST. GOTHARD TUNNEL. 

In a former chapter we have told of the piercing of the Alps by 
the Mont Cenis Railroad tunnel. The success of that gigantic enter- 
prise led, in 1872, to the beginning of another such tunnel, under Mt. 
St. Gothard. Work was begun at both ends in September, 1872, by 
hand. After April and July, 1873, machinery was called into play, and 
the work proceeded more rapidly. On February 29, 1880, the two 
headings came together, with a horizontal difference of only two inches, 
and a lateral difference of thirteen inches. The tunnel was formally 
opened, and the first passenger train was sent through it on November 
1, 1 88 1. Its actual length is nine and three-quarter miles, and its cost 
was about $700 a lineal yard. 

In June, 1881, an ancient aqueduct tunnel, eleven miles long, con- 
structed for supplying Bologna with water, was reopened and put into 
use again. 

Work on the tunnel under the Hudson River in New York, which 
had been begun in 1874, was suspended in 1883 after an expenditure of 
more than $1,000,000. 

Finally, the Arlberg tunnel, under the Alps, which had been begun 
in 1880, was completed in November, 1883, and trains began using it in 
September, 1884. It is six and a half miles long, and cost about $500 
a yard. 

THE EAST RIVER BRIDGE. 

The third of the great engineering works mentioned was the com- 
pletion of the East River bridge between New York and Brooklyn, the 
greatest suspension bridge in the world. The first steps toward erecting 
this bridge were taken in April, 1867, when a company for the purpose 
was chartered by the State of New York. John A. Roebling, builder of 
the Niagara suspension bridge, was chosen as the chief engineer. He 
died before the work was fairly begun, and his son, Washington A. Roeb- 
ling, succeeded to his place and carried the great work to completion. 
Congressional legislation favorable to the enterprise was secured in the 
spring of 1869. 




SULTAN OF TURKEY 



KHEDIVE OF EGYPT 



1900— LEADING RULERS OF THE WORLD (continued) 




1900— IN THE BOWELS OF THE EARTH 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 571 

The bridge was formally opened on May 24, 1883, with a grand 
military and civic display, and generally decoration of buildings in both 
cities. The popular enthusiasm and the enormous crowds of sightseers 
thronging everywhere were the greatest ever witnessed. President 
Arthur and Cabinet, Governor Cleveland, and many distinguished per- 
sons were present. William C. Kingsley, president of the board of 
trustees, formally presented the bridge to the mayors of the two cities. 
At night general illuminations, fireworks displayed from the bridge, open 
air concerts and rejoicing closed the eventful day. 

GREAT EARTHQUAKES. 

Earthquakes have been known in all ages of the world, but in the 
four years of which we are writing they were exceptionally numerous and 
destructive. On March 4th and 15th, 1881, the southern part of Italy 
was violently shaken, the isle of Ischia was desolated, hundreds of houses 
were destroyed, and hundreds of lives were lost. On April 3d, following, 
the Greek island of Scio, the birthplace of Homer, was shaken. Nearly 
every building on it was ruined, and 4000 lives were lost. In Septem- 
ber, 1882, the Panama Railroad was wrecked by a shock. Ischia was 
again ravaged on July 28, 1883, with a loss of nearly 2000 lives. 

At the end of August, 1883, occurred one of the mightiest convul- 
sions of nature ever known. The great mountain of Krakatoa, in the 
East Indies, was literally rent asunder, and Java, Sumatra, and neighbor- 
ing islands were desolated. Many thousands of lives were lost. Vast 
tidal waves were generated, which were felt with destructive force all 
around the globe. And the stupendous volumes of dust thrown into the 
air aroused gorgeous phenomena of " red sunsets " in all parts of the 
world for months thereafter. 

Serious shocks occurred in England in 1884, and at the close of that 
year an earthquake destroyed 1 200 lives in Spain. Finally, in February 
of 1885, about 700 persons were killed by another Spanish earthquake. 

LOUIS PASTEUR. 

The year 1884 must ever be memorable in the annals of science and 

of humanity for the work of Louis Pasteur. This illustrious French 

scientist had already won distinction for his researches into biology and 

the germ theory. It was he who most surely demonstrated the fallacy of 
30 



57 2 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

"spontaneous generation " and proved that all life must proceed from 
pre-existent life. He showed, too, that fermentation, putrefaction, and 
similar processes, were the result of the propagation of living organisms 
of microscopic size, and that if all germs of such life could be excluded, 
those processes could not take place. From this he proceeded to the 
still more important discovery that many of the worst diseases are caused 
by such germs, and that the diseases can be prevented simply by exclu- 
sion of the germs. He discovered thus an absolute cure for anthrax, one 
of the most dreaded of diseases, and also for a disease which was destroy- 
ing the silkworms and ruining the silk industry of France. In 1884, he 
announced his discovery of a cure for hydrophobia by inoculation. 

As a result of Pasteur's work the whole modern theory of germ 
diseases and the science of bacteriology have come into being. Lister, 
with his invaluable system of sterilization, was a disciple of Pasteur. So 
were the scientists who discovered preventive or curative inoculations 
against diphtheria, tuberculosis, cholera, the bubonic plague and other 
pestilences. The filtering of water, the disinfection of clothing and 
houses, the sterilization of milk and other foods, the marvelous researches 
into the origin and propagation of malaria through mosquitoes, the dis- 
covery of an antidote for snake poison, even for the cobra's bite, and 
indeed innumerable other triumphs of scientific medicine and surgery, are 
all tributes to the incomparable genius of this illustrious and sainted 
benefactor of the race. 

NECROLOGY. 

The death roll of these years included these names : 

In 1 88 1 Thomas Carlyle, Lord Beaconsfield, Mariette, the French 
Egyptologist, and Littre, the French lexicographer. 

In 1882 J. H. Draper, one of America's greatest scientists, Long- 
fellow, Darwin, Emerson, Garibaldi, Louis Blanc, the French Socialist, 
and Anthony Trollope, one of the favorite English novelists of his age. 

In 1883 Wagner, the musician ; Dore, the artist; J. R. Green, the 
English historian ; Gortchakoff, the Russian statesman ; Karl Marx, the 
Socialist ; Abd-el-Kader, the Algerian chieftain ; Turguneeff, Russia's 
greatest literary genius ; Mayne Reid, the favorite story teller of the boys 
of the world ; and Henri Martin, the French historian. 

In 1884 Mignet, the historian; Makart, the painter; and Charles 
Reade, one of the greatest novelists in English literature. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 



Grover Cleveland becomes President of the United States — The Navy - 
Rock Springs Massacre— The Presidential Succession — The Chic- 
ago Anarchists — Interstate Commerce — Presidential Campaign. 



GROVER CLEVELAND, of New York, became President of 
the United States on March 4, 1885, and was the first Democrat 
to hold that office since the retirement of James Buchanan in 
1 86 1. His administration marked something like a political rev- 
olution, and also the beginning of a new era in United States politics. 

One of the first noteworthy acts of the new administration was to 
send a detachment of United States troops to Panama, to enforce the 
treaty right of undisturbed transit across the isthmus, which was inter- 
fered with by one of the rebellions so common in that country. On 
April 24, 1885, 500 United States troops entered Panama, protected 
American property, and arrested Aizpuru, the leader of the insurgents. 

THE NAVY. 

A decided change was effected in the work of rebuilding the navy. 
On July 19, 1885, payments were suspended on the contracts which had 
been made for the building of ships, on the ground that the work was 
not being properly done, and an investigation was ordered by the Gov- 
ernment into the work of John Roach, the contractor in question, who 
then ranked as the foremost American shipbuilder. The net result of the 
investigation was a complete vindication of Mr. Roach. But the inter- 
ruption of his business and the cancellation of the contracts drove Mr. 
Roach into bankruptcy, and the imputations made against his integrity 
so preyed upon his mind as to impair his health and send him to an un- 
timely grave. 

Despite these regrettable incidents, the work of rebuilding the navy 
was vigorously pressed by the Cleveland administration. New ships 
were built, by contract and in the national navy yards, and year by year 
the navy advanced toward a leading place among the navies of the world. 

573 



574 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

ROCK SPRINGS MASSACRE. 

A hideous incident occurred on September 2, 1885, at Rock Springs, 
Wyoming. Many miners had there gone upon strike, owing to a dis- 
pute with their employers, and Chinese laborers were brought thither 
from California to take their places. At a preconcerted signal the strik- 
ing miners turned against the innocent Chinese with incredible fury. 
They not only murdered them, openly and wantonly, but did so with 
most revolting tortures, such as skinning alive, burning at the stake, and 
the like. Never in the history of Indian massacres or of Chinese out- 
breaks against missionaries, was there a more fiendish performance. 
More than fifty Chinamen, whose only offence was that they were hon- 
estly working for a living, were thus put to death, and all the rest saved 
their lives only by precipitate flight. 

The United States Government was called sharply to account by 
China for this hideous outrage, and was compelled to pay a hand- 
some indemnity in cash. 

THE PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION. 

The nation was saddened on November 25, 1 885, by the death of Vice- 
President Hendricks. This event left no one in the line of Presidential 
succession, as at that time there was no president pro tern, of the Senate, 
and no speaker of tne House of Representatives. The result was that 
as soon as Congress assembled a bill was framed and enacted, providing 
that in case of the removal, death, resignation or disability of both the 
President and the Vice-President, the line of succession to the Presidency 
shall be vested in the Cabinet in the following order : Secretary of 
State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of War, Attorney-General, 
Postmaster-General, Secretary of the Navy, and Secretary of the Interior. 

THE CHICAGO ANARCHISTS. 

Worse than any mere labor troubles was the outbreak of Anarchism 
which occurred in Chicago in 1886. That city had long been the head- 
quarters of certain discontented and semi-criminal organizations, com- 
posed chiefly of foreigners of recent importation. On May 4th, at a 
public meeting in Haymarket Square, a collision occurred between the 
" Militant Anarchists " and the police. Some dynamite bombs were 
thrown by the Anarchists as a part of a preconcerted scheme, and a 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 575 

number of policemen and others were killed and wounded. Three 
months later seven of the Anarchist leaders were convicted of murder 
and sentenced to death, and one was sentenced to fifteen years' 
imprisonment. 

INTERSTATE COMMERCE 

The early part of 1887 was marked with some important legislation. 
On February 3d the second Monday in January was fixed as the date on 
which Presidental Electors should meet in the various States to cast 
their votes for President and Vice-President, and the second Wednesday 
in February was fixed as the date on which the votes should be can- 
vassed by Congress. 

On February 4th the Interstate Commerce Bill, for regulation of 
commerce among the States by a Federal Commission, was approved and 
became a law. The first Interstate Commerce Commission was appointed 
by the President on March 22, 1887. 

During this administration a treaty with Great Britain for the regula- 
tion of fisheries was negotiated, but the Senate declined to ratify it, and 
the fisheries question continued to be a source of vexation between the 
United States and Canada. A new Cabinet office was created, known as 
the Secretaryship of Agriculture. A Department of Labor, in charge of 
a Commissioner, was also established. An interesting episode in foreign 
relations was the reception of the first Minister from Persia to this 
country. 

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. 

The Presidential campaign of 1888 was one of the most exciting in 
the history of the nation. Many candidates were in the field. The 
Democrats re-nominated Mr. Cleveland, with Senator Thurman, of Ohio, 
as candidate for the Vice-Presidency. The Republicans nominated 
Senator Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, for President, and Levi P. 
Morton, of New York, for Vice-President. Tickets were also put in 
the field by the Equal Rights (Woman Suffrage), Union Labor, United 
Labor, Prohibitionist and other parties. 

The election resulted in the casting of a plurality of popular votes 
for Cleveland and Thurman, but a majority of the electoral votes for 
Harrison and Morton — 233 to 168 — and the latter were accordingly 
elected. 



CHAPTER XLVII. 



Russian Advance Toward Herat — Riel's Rebellion — Home Rule — The 

Queen's Jubilee — Expulsion of French Pretenders — Boulanger — 

Death of the German Emperor — German Affairs — In Many Lands. 



THE steady advance of Russia in Central Asia was marked in 
March, 1885, by the occupation of Zulficar Pass, leading to Herat, 
and by an attack upon the Afghans at Khusk. This was regarded 
as a menace to the British Indian Empire, and Great Britain ac- 
cordingly took steps to meet it. After some negotiations hostilities were 
at last averted, the British Government, under Mr. Gladstone's direction, 
conceding to Russia almost everything claimed by the latter in that part 
of the world. 

RIEL'S REBELLION. 

The goodwill and the fairness of the American people were tested 
during the painful trial to which Canada was exposed in the spring of 
1885, when Louis Riel — the pardoned author of the Red River rebellion, 
in suppressing which Lord Wolseley won his spurs — raised the half- 
breeds and the Indians in the North-west Territory against the Govern- 
ment. The unfortunate settlers, who were unable to escape in the 
rigorous winter weather, were given over to rapine, outrage and mas- 
sacre. The Dominion Ministry acted with promptitude and energy, and 
a considerable force was collected beyond Winnipeg under General Mid- 
dleton, but operations were delayed by the snow and the spring floods, 
and Riel, with his savage allies, seemed confident that the troops would 
be worn out and cut off in detail. General Middleton, however, was 
steadily successful ; Riel and his half-breeds and desperate refugees from 
the States were beaten and finally captured, and the insurgent Indian 
chiefs submitted or were hunted down. 

HOME RULE. 

Mr. Gladstone resigned office and was succeeded by Lord Salisbury, 
as Prime Minister of England, in June, 1885. A general election soon 

576 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 577 

followed, in which the Liberals were successful, and in January, 1886, 
Mr. Gladstone was again Prime Minister. The one great issue in British 
politics was at this time the Irish question, which Mr. Gladstone deter- 
mined to settle by giving Ireland practical independence under the guise 
of " Home Rule." 

Since the days immediately preceding the Reform Bill of 1832, the 
United Kingdom had never been in such a state of political excitement 
as prevailed from November, 1885, to July, 1886. It was in the former 
month that rumors began to get abroad that the "liberal measure of 
local self-government," which Gladstone had spoken of in his Midlothian 
speeches as desirable for Ireland, meant Home Rule. 

At midwinter it was stated that he had invited Parnell to confer with 
him on the scheme, and to suggest guarantees for the preservation of 
law and peace in Ireland when Home Rule should have been conceded. 
Nevertheless, several of their party leaders announced that they still re- 
mained opposed to any grant of legislative independence to Ireland. 

THE QUEEN'S JUBILEE. 

The year 1887 is best remembered in Great Britain, however, for 
no matter of party politics, but for the Queen's First Jubilee (June 21), 
a great ceremony held to commemorate Her Majesty's completion of the 
fiftieth year of her reign. A solemn service held at Westminster Abbey 
was attended by all the royal family, and witnessed by an assembly gath- 
ered not only from the United Kingdom, but from India and all the 
colonies. Lord Beaconsfield's "Imperialism" still dominated his party, 
and everything was done to make the Jubilee a manifestation of the 
loyalty of the whole empire. In this aspect it was most successful. Not 
only did the premiers of the autonomous colonies and a party of Indian 
rajahs join in the ceremony in London, but rejoicings and demonstrations 
all around the world bore witness to the respect and love entertained for 
the aged sovereign in every corner of her dominions. 

EXPULSION OF FRENCH PRETENDERS. 

French politics were much disturbed in 1885 by discussions over the 
campaign in Tonquin. General Boulanger, an ambitious and unscrupu- 
lous officer of the army, began to make himself conspicuous as Minister 
of War. by his persecution of officers who did not agree with him in 



578 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

politics. Rumors of intrigues for a royalist restoration arose, sedulously 
fostered by Boulanger among the Radicals, and at last the expulsion 
from France of the Bourbon princes was demanded. For a time the 
Government resisted this unjust and absurd demand, but was at last 
forced to yield to it. 

BOULANGER. 

It may be added at this point that Boulanger soon began himself to 
plot against the republic, and to intrigue with the expelled princes for 
their restoration. So flagrant did his treason become that he deemed it 
prudent to flee from the country. He was tried by the Senate and con- 
demned, but, being out of France, could not be reached. He remained 
in exile, engaged in vain intrigues and conspiracies, until his death. 

DEATH OF THE GERMAN EMPEROR. 

Attention was soon diverted from these controversies by the fatal 
illness of the German Emperor, William I, and the alarming reports of 
the health of his son, who was at San Remo when his father died, on 
March 9, 1888. Though the Emperor William had reached a patriarchal 
age, his death was deeply felt by the German people. The funeral cere- 
mony was carried out with an impressive magnificence never surpassed. 
The wildest hopes and fears were excited in France and elsewhere by the 
accession of the Emperor Frederick, in whose state a temporary im- 
provement was visible after his arrival in Berlin. That his views in do- 
mestic policy were much more liberal than those of his father, and that 
he was sincerely desirous of peace became soon apparent, and a certain 
amount of friction arose between him and the Chancellor, threatening to 
end at one time in the resignation of the latter, who opposed the pro- 
jected marriage between the Princess Victoria and Prince Alexander, the 
former ruler of Bulgaria. In these controversies the Crown Prince, who 
had now become the Emperor, William II, ranged himself apparently on 
the side of the Chancellor. The death of Emperor Frederick the Noble 
produced on June 16th unfeigned and disinterested grief, not only in 
Germany, but throughout Europe, and especially in Great Britain, which 
was the highest tribute to a lofty character and a noble life. The new 
Emperor in his earliest proclamations and speeches reproduced the spirit 
and the language of his grandfather, with a less pacific temper and a 
more outspoken dislike of German liberalism. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 579 

GERMAN AFFAIRS. 

We need only notice in passing the painful and not very creditable 
squabbles which arose out of the illness of the Emperor Frederick, the 
charges and counter-charges of Sir Morrell Mackenzie and Professor von 
Bergmann, the publication of the late Emperor's diary, and the arrest 
and prosecution of Dr. GefTcken for alleged complicity in that offence. 
The foreign policy of the German Empire, which practically governed 
that of Central Europe, underwent no change, though much alarm was 
caused both in Austria-Hungary and in France by the visit of the young 
Emperor William II, soon after his accession, to the Czar at Peterhof 
The German semi-official press continued to write contemptuously and 
abusively of Bulgaria, and the friendly relations between the German and 
the Russian courts were the subject of various comment. It soon ap- 
peared, however, that the "League of Peace," the alliance of Germany 
with Austria and Italy, was still the keystone of German policy. The 
visits of Signor Crispi and Count Kalnoky to Prince Bismarck were 
followed by the more formal and significant progress of the Emperor 
himself to Vienna and to Rome, where, as also in Sweden and in the 
South German capitals, he was welcomed with great enthusiasm. The 
solidarity of the interests of the three Powers constituting the "League 
of Peace " was emphatically asserted in these interchanges of courtesy. 
An interview between the Emperor and the Pope at the Vatican was mal- 
adroitly managed, either on one side or on both, and weakened the friendly 
feelings which had grown up between the German Government and 
the Roman Catholic church. 

IN MANY LANDS. 

Other incidents of these years must be mentioned in brief. The 
last weeks of 1885 saw the final conquest of Burmah by the British, 
and the deposition of the infamous tyrant, King Theebaw. That same 
year saw the creation, by international agreement, of the Free State of 
the Congo, under the rule of the King of the Belgians. In 1887 
Germany made peace with Rome by rescinding the laws she had en- 
acted against the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical organizations. A con- 
flict between Germans and Americans in Samoa called attention to the 
dangerous state of affairs in those islands, which were under the joint 
rule of Germany, Great Britain and the United States. 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 



Completion of Canadian Pacific Railway — Earthquakes — Ship Canals — 

Stanley and Emin — A Noteworthy Expedition — Railroad to 

Samarcand — Blowing Up Hell Gate — Bartholdi's Statue 

of Liberty — The Great Blizzard — Necrology. 



THE union of the Canadian provinces into a single federal com- 
monwealth resulted in a marked increase of prosperity. Trade 
and manufactures grew apace, and important public works were 
undertaken. Chief among the latter was the Canadian Pacific 
Railway, extending across the continent, from tidewater in the St. 
Lawrence River at Montreal to the Pacific Ocean at Vancouver. 
This great work was aided by a guaranteed loan of $12,500,000 from 
the British Government, by exemption from taxation, and numerous 
other valuable concessions. It was opened for traffic on June 28, 1886. 
Its length from Montreal to Vancouver is 2906 miles. It now possesses 
a fine line of steamships, plying from Vancouver to China and Japan, 
and is a strong competitor against the transcontinental lines of the 
United States. 

EARTHQUAKES. 

The earthquake season of 1885, l ^4 an d 1885, mentioned in a 
former chapter, was continued in the next two years with disastrous 
effect. On August 31, 1886, a great shock disturbed a large part of 
the United States. The city of Charleston, S. C, suffered most severely, 
forty-one lives and $5,000,000 of property being destroyed. On Feb- 
ruary 23, 1887, the Riviera and adjacent parts of Southern Europe were 
shaken, with the loss of fully 2000 lives. 

SHIP CANALS. 

The great ship canal in Germany, connecting the North Sea and 
the Baltic, was begun in 1887. This canal extends from the mouth ot 
the Elbe to Kiel; a distance of 60 miles, and is 28 feet deep and 167 feet 

580 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 58 1 

wide. It was opened in 1894 by the German Emperor in person, amid 
great festivities, in which ships of nearly all the navies of the world 
took part. 

Even more notable was the Manchester Ship Canal, which was 
begun and completed in the same years as the German canal just men- 
tioned. The Manchester canal extends inland more than 35 miles from 
Liverpool, and makes of the great inland manufacturing city a seaport 
accessible to the largest steamships from all parts of the world. 

STANLEY AND EMIN. 

The year 1887 was marked with the heroic enterprise of Henry M. 
Stanley to rescue Emin Bey, in the Equatorial Provinces of the Egyptian 
Soudan. 

Emin Bey, or Pacha, as he became, was Austrian by birth. He 
was educated as a physician, and was one of Midhat's advisers at 
Constantinople. When that Prime Minister was dismissed on the eve 
of the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish war of 1877, Emin took refuge 
in Asia, and finally made his way, by way of Suakim, with a caravan, 
to Khartoum, where he arrived in very reduced circumstances. Gen- 
eral Gordon made him a storekeeper, and he served some time 
at Lado. 

After 1877 he became surgeon-in-chief on Gordon's staff, serving 
about four years. He kept busy all this time, attending to his routine 
duties, accumulating scientific collections, writing elaborate papers for 
European societies and undertaking delicate missions to Uganda and 
Unyoro. He was an expert linguist — Turkish, Arabic, German, French, 
Italian and English being familiar languages to him, as well as many of 
the African dialects. When Gordon became Governor-General of the 
Soudan he sent Emin to rule over the Equatorial Provinces. In three 
years' time he drove out the slave-traders from a populous region, and 
converted a deficiency of revenue into a surplus. He conducted the 
government on the lines marked out by General Gordon, and was 
equally modest, disinterested and conscientious. When the Mahdi's 
rebellion broke out a Governor-General of another stamp was at Khar- 
toum. Emin's warning from the remote south passed unheeded, and 
disasters followed, ending in Gordon's death. Emin remained at his 
post, neglected and almost forgotten. He had 4000 troops at the out- 



582 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

set. He organized auxiliary forces of native soldiers. He was con- 
stantly engaged in warfare with surrounding- tribes. His ammunition 
and money ran low, and, in the face of many difficulties, he maintained 
his position and governed the country well. The last European who 
visited him before Stanley's arrival was Dr. Junker, who parted from 
him at Wadelai on January 1, 1886. 

A NOTEWORTHY EXPEDITION. 

Stanley started on his expedition to relieve Emin early in 1887, but 
it was not until June that he was able to reach the Aruwimi. His jour- 
ney thence to Wadelai was a gallant struggle against seemingly insu- 
perable obstacles, and it was not until sometime in January, 1888, that he 
succeeded in reaching Emin. He found Emin and his party in a fairly 
good position and determined to resist the Mahdi's demand that he evac- 
uate the provinces. Stanley about the middle of April left Wadelai to 
return to his rear guard, from which he had had no news, and he urged 
Emin to accompany him. The latter would not leave, however, so long 
as the country was threatened by the Mahdi. Soon after Stanley's re- 
turn to the Aruwimi in August, 1888, he again made preparations for re- 
joining Emin, and in 1889 tnev marched out together, by the way of 
Zanzibar. 

The time occupied in this expedition was three years, and the re- 
sults accomplished were of great value to the science of geography. 
Stanley ended the expedition at Cairo in the latter part of the year 1889, 
and he remained in that place writing a record of the journey, which was 
published simultaneously in England, France, Germany and this country 
in 1890 under the title "In Darkest Africa." His return to England at 
the conclusion of this work was one continuous ovation. Many degrees 
were conferred upon him by the English Universities ; and individuals, 
big and little, thronged to do him honor. He was married in 1890 to 
Miss Dorothy Tennant, an artist of considerable talent, of London. 

RAILROAD TO SAMARCAND. 

The progress of Russia's conquest of Central Asia was marked in 
1 888 by a most romantic achievement. This was the completion of a 
railroad from the Caspian Sea to the city of Samarcand, and the making 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. rg^ 

of the latter city a great railroad centre. Nothing could be more im- 
pressive to the romantic imagination than the thought of a steam railroad 
in Samarcand, " the gilded city of the sun," where is the tomb of Tamer- 
lane. 

In that year King John of Abyssinia was killed in a battle with the 
Dervishes, and Menelek of Shoa seized the throne as his successor. 
This incident was the beginning of a new era in the history of Abyssinia, 
the land of Prester John. 

BLOWING UP HELL GATE. 

The first blasting operations under Hell Gate, in the East River, 
New York, did not prove altogether successful, and another great blast 
was prepared. Nine acres of submarine rock were undermined, and 
blown up by a single explosion of nearly 283,000 pounds of dynamite 
and gun cotton, on October 10, 1885. 

On November 10, 1885, a National Farmers' Congress assembled 
at Indianapolis, Indiana, and took steps which ultimately led to the organ- 
ization of the Populist party in national politics. 

BARTHOLDFS STATUE OF LIBERTY. 

The colossal statue of " Liberty Enlightening the World," executed 
by Bartholdi, the French sculptor, and standing on Bedloe's Island, in 
New York harbor, was formally unveiled with imposing ceremonies on 
October 28, 1886. This monumental work of art was a gift of the people 
of France to the people of the United States. Its cost was more than 
$200,000, which was raised by private subscription in France. The cost 
of the pedestal and land was about $300,000, which was contributed in 
the United States. The statue is 15 1.2 feet high, and weighs 440,000 
pounds. From low water mark to the top of the torch is 305 feet 1 1 
inches. 

A large part of Table Rock, at Niagara Falls, measuring 100 feet 
long, 76 feet wide, and 170 feet deep, broke off and fell into the abyss 
below on January 12, 1887. 

The holiday known as Labor Day was first observed as a legal holi- 
day in New York State on September 5, 1887. On September 15th a 
three days' centennial celebration of the adoption of the Constitution of 
the United States was begun at Philadelphia. 



584 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

THE GREAT BLIZZARD. 

The month of March, 1888, was made memorable in New York and 
its vicinity by the unprecedented snow storm, or blizzard, which raged 
there on the 12th and 13th. In this storm the temperature fell to many 
degrees below zero, the wind blew a fierce hurricane, and more than four 
feet of snow fell. The wind drifted this snow into vast piles, so that in 
many of the streets in New York it lay from twenty to thirty feet deep. 
Railroads were entirely blockaded, telegraph lines were prostrated, and 
for several days, business and communication were almost entirely sus- 
pended. Thirty lives were lost, besides hundreds more that were ulti- 
mately lost in consequence of sufferings during the storm, and more than 
$10,000,000 worth of property was destroyed. 

NECROLOGY. 

The deaths of these four years included in 1885 those of Victor 
Hugo, General Grant, General McClellan, Marshal Serrano, of Spain, 
and Sir Moses Montefiore, the great Hebrew philanthropist, of Lon- 
don ; in 1886, ex-President Arthur, Liszt, the musician, Beust, the 
Austrian statesman, and Charles Francis Adams, the American states- 
man and publicist; in 1887, Henry Ward Beecher ; and in 1888, Asa 
Gray, the botanist, General Sheridan, Matthew Arnold, and William 
H. Vanderbilt. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 



Benjamin Harrison becomes President of the United States— Additions 

to the Union — Pan-American Congress — Behring Sea — The 

McKinley Tariff — Controversies with Chili — Italian 

Massacre in New Orleans — Farmers' Alliance. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON became President of the United States 
on March 4, 1889. He was a man of more than ordinarily dis- 
tinguished ancestry. One of his progenitors was Major-General 
Thomas Harrison, mentioned in the following entry made by 
Samuel Pepys in his diary under date of October 13, 1660 : 

" I went out to Charing Cross to see Major-General Harrison hanged, 
drawn and quartered ; which was done there, he looking as cheerful as 
any man could do in that condition. He was presently cut down and his 
head and heart shown to the people, at which there were great shouts of 
joy. Thus it was my chance to see the King beheaded at Whitehall, and 
to see the first blood shed in revenge for the King at Charing Cross." 
General Harrison had been appointed by Cromwell to convey Charles I 
from Windsor to Whitehall for trial, and he signed the warrant for the 
beheading of the King. The descendants of the patriot of the Com- 
monwealth came to America soon after the hanging at Charing Cross, 
but the family did not come prominently into view until just before the 
Revolutionary war. 

Benjamin Harrison's great-grandfather, Benjamin Harrison, of Vir- 
ginia, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and 
was prominent in public affairs from 1764 until his death in 1791, being 
for four years a member of Congress and three times Governor of Vir- 
ginia. He entered upon his public career in 1764, soon after reaching 
his majority, as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and he 
took an active part in the p re-Revolutionary movements. General 
William Henry Harrison, his son, served his country almost continuously 
from 1791 to 1841, both in military and civil places. He fought the bat- 
tle of Tippecanoe in 181 1, was a member of Congress, a United States 

585 



586 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED VEARS. 

Senator from Ohio, Minister to Republic of Colombia, and for one 
month (from March 4 to April 4, 1841, when he died) President of the 
United States. His son, John Scott Harrison, who was a member of 
Congress from 1853 to 1857, died on May 26, 1878, at his home near 
North Bend, Ohio. The third son of John Scott Harrison was Benjamin 
Harrison, who became President in 1889. 

ADDITIONS TO THE UNION. 

President Harrison's Administration was marked with the admission 
of a number of new States to the Union. North and South Dakota 
were thus admitted, the thirty-ninth and fortieth in order, on Novem- 
ber 2, 1889; Montana, the forty-first, followed on November 8th, and 
Washington, the forty-second, on November nth. Idaho came in as 
the forty-third on July 3, 1890, and Wyoming as the forty-fourth on July 
10th. Meantime on May 2, 1890, Oklahoma was organized as a territory. 

PAN-AMERICAN CONGRESS. 

The period covered by the four years of General Harrison's Admin- 
istration was marked by unusual activity and striking success in the man- 
agement of foreign relations. American interests were vastly promoted 
and the aims of American diplomacy emphasized. The record of the 
Administration began with the highly important and significant meeting 
of the International American Conference in Washington, and ended 
with the conclusion of the Hawaiian Treaty of Annexation. 1 he Inter- 
national American Conference assembled in Washington in October 
1889, with delegates representing all the independent Governments of 
the two Americas, and continued in session until April, 1890. While 
the American nations were discussing plans for closer intimacy, another 
important national conference was being held for the better protection 
of lives and property at sea. In the first year of the Administration 
negotiations between England, Germany and the United States for the 
preservation of peace and good government in the Samoan Islands, 
which had been broken off in 1887, were renewed with more success, and 
a convention, signed in Berlin, was submitted early in 1890 and ratified 
by the Senate. A treaty of extradition with Great Britain, which the pre- 
ceding Administration had failed to secure, was also negotiated and rati- 
fied in the spring of 1890. 



A--. 




1900— AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA 




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4, 3 SB 



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TYPEWRITER MACHINE 



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TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT 




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TYPESETTING MACHINE 



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1900— REMARKABLE INVENTIONS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 



BEHRING SEA. 



589 



For some years there had been a bitter dispute between the United 
States and Great Britain concerning the right to take fur seals in Behring 
Sea. These negotiations, which had dragged along without prospect of 
termination for several years, were taken up early in the Administration 
by Secretary Blaine. A treaty of arbitration was signed in February, 
1892, and soon after ratified. The Board of Arbitrators which subse- 
quently met in Paris and the award made by it are subjects which more 
properly belong to a review of Mr. Cleveland's second Administration. 
They are therefore not treated in greater detail here. 

THE McKINLEY TARIFF. 

The famous protective tariff framed by William McKinley, member 
of Congress from Ohio, and called by his name, was enacted by Con- 
gress in 1890, and approved by the President on October 1st of that 
year. Under it the burden was thrown upon the State Department of 
negotiating a series of treaties of commercial reciprocity with Central 
and South American countries. The first convention proclaimed was 
that with Brazil early in 1891 ; a second was negotiated in the same 
year with Spain for her West India possessions, and a third with the 
Republic of San Domingo. Similar conventions were subsequently 
proclaimed with Guatemala, Salvador, Great Britain for certain of her 
West India colonies, and British Guiana, Nicaragua and Honduras. 
With the sugar clause as a basis, limited reciprocity conventions were 
also arranged with Germany and Austria-Hungary. 

CONTROVERSIES WITH CHILI.^ 

Events growing out of the civil war in Chili threatened, in the 
winter of 1891-92, to involve this country in war with the triumphant 
Congressional party in that republic, but the firm and vigorous asser- 
tions of this country's purpose to maintain its dignity and enforce its 
rights brought the Chilian Government to a speedy sense of responsi- 
bility, and the injuries of which the United States complained were 
redressed without question. A party ot sailors from the cruiser " Balti- 
more" had been attacked by a mob in Valparaiso and loss of life had 
resulted. General Harrison's Administration secured an apology for 
this insult to the American uniform, and an indemnity of $75,000 for the 



59° STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

families of the dead sailors and for the injured. An incident of these 
troubles with Chili was the flight of the Chilian insurgent steamer 
"Itata" from a Californian port, carrying with her as prisoner a United 
States Deputy Marshal who had tried to prevent her sailing, The 
•• Itata " was afterwards seized, after a long chase, at Callao, Peru. 

ITALIAN MASSACRE IN NEW ORLEANS. 

In the winter of 1890-91 several Italian subjects were killed in an 
uprising in New Orleans against a secret organization of assassins, 
known as the Mafia. For a time diplomatic intercourse between the 
United States and Italy ceased as a result of this incident. An investi- 
gation showed that some of the men killed by the mob were Italian 
subjects, and the United States subsequently paid a voluntary indemnity 
of $25,000. The sum was accepted by Italy as a most generous com- 
pensation, and cordial diplomatic relations were restored. 

Toward the close of General Harrison's Administration an im- 
portant extradition treaty with France, negotiated by the Hon. White- 
law Reid, was ratified by the Senate, as were similar treaties with Russia 
and Sweden. 

FARMERS' ALLIANCE. 

The organization known as the Farmers' Alliance arose to great 
strength during this administration, and decided to take part in politics. 
At a National Industrial Conference held at St. Louis on February 22, 
1892, the Farmers' Alliance and other bodies decided to act with the 
newly formed People's Party, or Populists, in that year's campaign. The 
latter party held its national convention at Omaha in July, and nominated 
General James B. Weaver for President and James G. Field for Vice- 
President. The Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland for President 
and Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois, for Vice-President. The Republicans 
nominated President Harrison to succeed himself, with Whitelaw Reid, 
of New York, as candidate for Vice-President. 

The campaign was vigorously contested. Vast labor strikes un- 
settled industrial conditions and produced discontent with the existing 
Administration, and the People's Party drew off many Republican votes. 
The result was the election of Cleveland and Stevenson, who got 277 
electoral votes. Harrison and Reid got 145 votes, and Weaver and 
Field got 22 votes. 



CHAPTER L. 



Boulanger Trial — German Affairs — Resignation of Bismarck— African 

Treaty — Triple Alliance — Revolution in Brazil — War in 

Chili — The Japanese Constitution. 



IT was early in 1889, as hitherto related, that the French Senate tried 
and condemned Boulanger for his treasonable conspiracies against 
the republic. The immediate danger of " Boulangism " was thus 
averted, but French politics remained for some time in a troubled 
condition. . Ministry after Ministry was formed and put into office, only 
to be defeated and forced to resign by adverse votes in the Chamber of 
Deputies. 

At last, in 1892, came a crisis that shook the Republic to its founda- 
tions. It was discovered that of the $300,000,000 which French investors 
had been persuaded to put into the scheme of constructing a canal at 
Panama, more than half had been stolen or used in bribing and corrupt- 
ing or in paying blackmail to public men in France. It was one of the 
greatest financial scandals in the history of the world. Many of the fore- 
most men in France were compromised, including De Lesseps himself, 
and were brought to trial and severely punished, 

GERMAN AFFAIRS. 

The German Reichstag passed a law in 1889 providing compulsory 
insurance of workingmen against disability arising from old age or 
infirmity. A conference was held at Berlin in the same year, between 
Germany, Great Britain and the United States, for the adjustment of 
their respective interests in Samoa, which resulted in a modus vivendi 
which lasted until almost the end of the century, when Samoa was 
partitioned among the powers. 

An international conference on labor was held at Berlin in 1890, at 
the instance of the Emperor, with the ambitious aim of settling once and 
forever the conflict between labor and capital. It was, however, 
productive of little good. 

59' 



592 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

RESIGNATION OP BISMARCK. 

The world was startled in March, 1890, by the announcement that 
Prince Bismarck, the real creator of the German Empire, had resigned 
the Chancellorship of that empire and retired to private life. Rumors of 
disagreements between him and the young Emperor had been heard, but 
it was not supposed that they would come to an open rupture. It 
appeared, however, that on a direct issue between the two, the Emperor 
had practically told the venerable Chancellor to submit or resign, and 
Bismarck had chosen the latter course. 

General Caprivi was appointed Chancellor in Bismarck's place, but 
was a mere figurehead. The young Emperor was thenceforth his own 
Chancellor. Indeed, the most remarkable factor in German politics was 
the energy with which the young Emperor impressed his personality on 
his own subjects and on all Europe. His almost restless activity was 
displayed in the frequent interchange of visits with other sovereigns. He 
went to England in the summer, and was much impressed by the naval 
review at Spithead. In Berlin he entertained the Emperor of Austria 
and the Kings of Italy, Sweden and Denmark, and, finally, after delays 
which gave rise to much gossip, the Czar. In the autumn he went to 
Athens, taking Italy on his way, in order to be present at the marriage 
of his sister, the Princess Sophia, to the Duke of Sparta, the heir to the 
throne of Greece, and thence proceeded to Constantinople, where he met 
with a splendid welcome from the Sultan. 

AFRICAN TREATY. 

The German and British Governments agreed upon a treaty in 1890 
by which they divided the bulk of South Africa between them. Germany'? 
title was confirmed to the vast colonies she had founded, or rather to the 
vast territories she had seized for colonization, and a British protectorate 
was established over Zanzibar. The little island of Heligoland, in the 
North Sea, was ceded by Great Britain to Germany. 

In the same year Belgium and the Congo Free State concluded a 
treaty, under the terms of which the latter was to be annexed to the 
former at the end of ten years. 

The march of Stanley and Emin Pacha from the Egyptian Soudan 
to the coast at Zanzibar has already been mentioned. That incident left 
i;he entire Soudan to the mercy of the fanatical Mahdists, and a reign of 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 593 

terror and outrage was established there such as the world had not seen 
before since the days of Genghis Khan. 

TRIPLE ALLIANCE. 

The Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy was 
renewed in 1891, and thus the international politics of Europe were kept 
in the same channels. Meantime, in the Balkans, King Milan, who had 
skillfully played off the Servian parties against one another and kept a 
firm hold on the Austrian alliance, suddenly threw up the game early in 
the year 1889, abdicating in favor of his son Alexander, a lad of thirteen, 
who was quietly installed as sovereign under a Council of Regents. The 
pro-Russian party was from the outset dominant in the Regency and the 
Assembly ; Queen Natalie, Milan's divorced wife, was allowed to return 
to Belgrade, and a policy of ostentatious hostility towards Austria was 
adopted. 

REVOLUTION IN BRAZIL. 

A sudden military uprising occurred in Brazil on November 15, 1889, 
under the lead of Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca. It was at first supposed 
to be aimed merely at some abuses of Government, but was soon seen to 
be hostile to the empire itself. Its success was rapid. The venerable 
Emperor, Dom Pedro II, one of the most benevolent of rulers, was com- 
pelled to abdictate and to retire to Portugal. A republic was thereupon 
proclaimed under the title of the United States of Brazil. Marshal 
Fonseca was made the head of the provisional government. 

In February, 1891, the new Brazilian Constitution was promulgated, 
and Marshal Fonseca was elected President under it. In November of 
the same year he attempted to usurp dictatorial power, and the result 
was a counter-revolution against him, which began in the State of Rio 
Grande do Sul and soon involved Rio de Janeiro. Fonseca was forced 
to resign, and the Vice-President, Peixoto, assumed the Presidential 
office. 

A revolution occurred also in 1890 in the Argentine Republic. 
President Celman was driven from office, and was succeeded by President 
Pelligrini. 

WAR IN CHILI. 

A civil war was the feature of 1891 in Chili. For some time Presi- 
dent Balmaceda had been at loggerheads with Congress. The quarrel 



594 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

came to a crisis when Balmaceda tried to usurp dictatorial power. The 
Congressional party rose against him, gaining possession of most of the 
navy. After a number of severe encounters the Congressional party was 
victorious. In August the Congressional army captured Valparaiso and 
Santiago, and a little later Balmaceda committed suicide. In October 
Jorge Montt was chosen President. 

THE JAPANESE CONSTITUTION. 

A revolution as notable as any of these, yet entirely peaceful, was 
effected in 1889 ^ n tne ancient empire of Japan. In that year the 
Emperor, or Mikado, voluntarily gave to the nation a free Constitution, 
with an elective Parliament and popular suffrage. In a word, he placed 
Japan at once on the same governmental plane with the most enlightened 
nations of Europe. The experiment worked admirably, and the Japanese 
nation thereafter made rapid progress in the arts of government and 
civilization. 

Still another revolution occurred in January, 1893, its scene being 
the Hawaiian Islands. There was a popular uprising against the mis- 
government and tyranny of Queen Liliuokalani, and that sovereign was 
deposed. The Hawaiians then renewed the action of nearly fifty years 
before, and made application for annexation to the United States. A 
treaty of annexation was negotiated in February, and was sent by Presi- 
dent Harrison to the Senate of the United States. It was not acted upon, 
however, before the end of his term, and his successor promptly withdrew 
it from consideration. 

The beginning of 1893 was marked with the French war of conquest 
against Siam, which resulted in the seizure by France of about one-third 
of that kingdom. 



CHAPTER LI. 



Great Storm and Disaster at Samoa — The Johnstown Flood — The Wash- 
ington Centenary—The Nicaragua Canal — Various Achieve- 
ments — Peary in Greenland — The Columbian 
Celebration — The Death List. 



IN reviewing the general events of the world during the four years of 
President Harrison's Administration in the United States, there 
comes first to mind the awful tragedy of Apia. On March 15-16, 
1889, a tremendous hurricane broke upon the Samoan Islands. In 
the harbor of Apia was a fleet of American, German and British ves- 
sels. The three German ships were driven upon the reefs and shore, 
and wrecked, with the loss of 96 lives. The three American ships were 
also wrecked, with a loss of 50 lives. The one British ship, the " Cal- 
liope," was saved by the courage of her captain and the power of her 
engines, for, instead of trusting to her anchors and trying to hold her 
place in the storm-swept harbor, she cast off her cables, and in the very 
face of the storm, fought her way past the rocks, through the sea-gate to 
the open sea, where she rode out the storm. The tragedy was illumi- 
nated by unsurpassed exhibitions of heroism. The crew of the Ameri- 
can ship " Trenton," remaining in the harbor to be wrecked and lost, 
gallantly cheered the " Calliope," as that ship passed by her way on to 
safety. Then they gave three cheers for their consort, the already 
wrecked " Vandalia," against whose helpless hulk they were drifting. 
The few survivors of the " Vandalia's " crew, clinging to the wreck, gave 
three cheers in reply. Then the crew of the " Trenton " raised the 
Stars and Stripes to its place at the mizzen-peak, and the band, lashed to 
the rigging to keep from being swept off by the waves, played " The Star 
Spangled Banner." And thus the ship went down in wreck and death. 

THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD. 

On May 31st occurred the destruction of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 
by a flood. This city, with some 28,000 population, was situated on the 

595 



596 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

Conemaugh River, in Western Pennsylvania. About eighteen miles fur- 
ther up stream the river had long ago been dammed, so as to form a lake. 
This lake was 2^ miles long and 1^ miles wide, and its level was 275 
feet above the city of Johnstown. Heavy spring rains swelled the river 
and put unusual pressure upon the dam, which gave way, and the huge 
mass of water went roaring down the valley and struck the city with in- 
describable fury. The city was almost annihilated. Nearly $10,000,000 
worth of property was destroyed. The number of lives lost was 2142. 
No less than 99 whole families were blotted out, 1 24 women were left 
widows, and 695 children were orphaned. Aid was sent to the survivors 
from all the States, and from all parts of the world, amounting to nearly 
$3,000,000. Each widow received $1500, and provision was made for the 
payment of $50 a year to each orphan until the age of sixteen. 

THE WASHINGTON CENTENARY. 

The one hundredth anniversary of the inauguration of George 
Washington as first President of the United States occurred on April 30, 
1889. That day was set apart by Presidential proclamation as a public 
holiday in all parts of the Union, and elaborate celebrations were held in 
many places. The chief celebration was, of course, in New York, which 
city had been the scene of the event commemorated, a hundred years 
before. 

THE NICARAGUA CANAL. 

One of the most important engineering schemes of these years was 
the beginning of the Nicaragua canal. Since the earliest times the Nica- 
ragua route had been regarded with great favor as the site of an 
isthmian canal, on account of the fine San Juan River and the vast ex- 
panse of Lake Nicaragua, which forms a natural waterway nearly across 
the isthmus. In 1825 DeWitt Clinton, the builder of the Erie canal, had 
obtained a concession for a Nicaragua canal, but failed to raise the 
needed capital. Ten years later the United States Congress passed res- 
olutions in favor of the construction of the canal. In 1846 Louis Napo- 
leon interested himself in the scheme, and in 1847 tne British Govern- 
ment attempted to claim control over any such waterway that might be 
constructed. Of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, which frustrated such claims, 
we have hitherto spoken. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 597 

VARIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS. 

The year 1889 was marked with another international exposition in 
Paris, which was brilliantly successful. A feature of it was the stu- 
pendous Eiffel tower, one of the loftiest structures ever raised by the 
hands of man. 

On January 23, 1890, the Women's Christian Temperance League 
was organized at Cleveland, Ohio. This is not, however, to be con- 
founded with the National Women's Christian Temperance Union, formed 
in Ohio in November, 1874, which had grown to enormous proportions. 

The completion of the new Croton aqueduct for supplying New 
York City with water, and the opening of the new railroad bridge across 
the Firth of Forth, in Scotland, were two of the major engineering 
achievements of 1890. 

In 1890, also, King William III of Holland died and was succeeded 
by his daughter, Wilhelmina, his widow, Queen Emma being appointed 
Regent until Wilhelmina should attain her majority. 

In 1891 the Russian Government began the construction of its great 
railroad across Siberia, from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. 
The same year saw the prevalence of a dreadful famine in Russia, 
in which hundreds of thousands of people perished. 

PEARY IN GREENLAND. 

The departure of Lieutenant Peary for an exploring trip in Green- 
land on June 6, 1801, was unique in that the explorer was accompanied 
by his wife, the first woman to go on an Arctic expedition. In the follow- 
ing year Lieutenant Peary crossed the great interior ice cap of Green- 
land, from Inglefield Gulf to Independence Bay, and his return was 
safely accomplished after some of the most valuable explorations ever 
made in that part of the world. 

Smokeless gunpowder was one of the important inventions of these 
years. It was first used in the United States in experiments at Sandy 
Hook on July 25, 1891. On September 19th following, the St. Clair 
River tunnel, between the United States and Canada, was opened with 
appropriate ceremonies. 

We may also notice that in 1891 the Weather Bureau was trans- 
ferred to the Department of Agriculture, at Washington, having formerly 
been in the War Department, and that experiments were made with 



598 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

some apparent success in producing rain by the explosion of bombs high 
in the air. 

On April 2, 1892, a treaty with foreign powers was signed at Wash- 
ington, suppressing the trade in firearms and spiritous liquors with the 
natives of Africa, and also authorizing the most stringent suppression of 
the slave trade. 

THE COLUMBIAN CELEBRATION. 

As the four hundredth celebration of the discovery of America by 
Columbus drew near, preparations were made for celebrating it in an 
elaborate manner. The chief celebration was at New York, where there 
was a naval parade of ships of all the navies of the world, and a land 
parade of troops of all the nations. All over the country the day of the 
actual anniversay, October 12th, was observed as a holiday, and elabor- 
ate celebrations were had. On October 21st the World's Fair at Chic- 
ago was nominally dedicated, although it was not completed and opened 
to the public until the next spring. 

THE DEATH LIST. 

The death list for these four years is a formidable one, comprising 
many of the best known names in the world. In 1889, Ericsson, the 
engineer ; Chevreul, the greatest of French chemists ; Joule, the physi- 
cist ; Augier, the dramatist ; John Bright, the statesman and greatest 
English orator of his time ; Browning, one of the world's greatest poets, 
and Jefferson Davis, ex-President of the Confederate States. In 1890, 
Dollinger, the German theologian ; Andrassy, the Austro- Hungarian 
statesman ; Tseng, the Chinese diplomat ; General Fremont, Cardinal 
Newman, and Schliemann, the archaeologist. In 1891, Kinglake and 
Bancroft, the historians ; Meissonier, the painter ; General Sherman and 
his old antagonist, General J. E. Johnston ; Moltke, the German war 
genius ; Grevy, ex-President of France ; Parnell, the Irish Home Rule 
leader ; Bulwer Lytton, better known to many as Owen Meredith, poet 
and diplomat ; Lowell, poet, essayist and diplomat ; and Dom Pedro, ex- 
Emperor of Brazil. In 1892, Arago, the French scientist; Freeman, the 
historian ; Walt Whitman, Jay Gould, George William Curtis, Whittier, 
the Quaker poet of freedom ; Renan, the French atheist ; Owen, the 
English Socialist ; Siemens, the electrician, and Tennyson, the greatest 
of modern poets. 



CHAPTER LII. 



Grover Cleveland Becomes President of the United States— Ambassadors— 
Behring Sea Arbitration— Currency Troubles— The Silver Con- 
troversy—Bond Issues— The Tariff Fight —Admission 
of Utah — Foreign Affairs — The Venezuela 
Boundary — Election of McKinley. 



GROVER CLEVELAND began his second term as President 
of the United States on March 4, 1893, supported by a strong 
Democratic majority in Congress. An extra session of the 
Senate was immediately held, and on March 9th the President 
withdrew from that body the treaty for the annexation of Hawaii which 
had been negotiated by his predecessor. This action was based upon 
the belief, expressed by President Cleveland, that the Hawaiian revolu- 
tion had been brought about through intrigues of Americans, and that 
the annexation would be against the will of the Hawaiian people. A 
heated political controversy arose over this matter, which continued until 
the end of the Administration. Mr. Cleveland stood his ground firmly, 
however, and the annexation project was for the time defeated. 

AMBASSADORS. 

In the closing days of the Harrison Administration a law was passed 
and approved, authorizing the President to raise foreign ministers to 
ambassadorial rank in all cases in which similar action was taken by a 
foreign country with respect to its representative here. On March 24th 
the President was informed that Great Britain and France had raised 
their ministers to the rank of ambassadors, and accordingly he appointed 
ambassadors to represent the United States in those countries. The 
same action was subsequently taken in regard to the other leading coun- 
tries of Europe. Thus a new era in American diplomatic relations was 
opened, in which the United States occupied a place of greater dignity 
and of greater advantage than before. 

599 



600 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

BEHRING SEA ARBITRATION. 

The differences of the United States and Great Britain concerning 
the fur seal fisheries in Behring Sea had, in the preceding Administra- 
tion, been referred to arbitration for settlement. The court of arbitra- 
tion sat at Paris, and arguments by the British and American represen- 
tatives began on April 4, 1893. The decision of the court was rendered 
August 15th. It was partly favorable and partly unfavorable to the con- 
tention of the United States. The United States claim of exclusive 
ownership and jurisdiction over Behring Sea was denied. Regulations 
were, however, adopted, forbidding the killing of seals within fifty miles 
of the seal islands, or outside that limit from May 1st to July 31st. The 
United States was directed to pay to Great Britain such indemnity as 
might be mutually agreed upon between them for the American seizures 
of British sealing vessels which had taken place. 

CURRENCY TROUBLES. 

One of the chief features of Mr. Cleveland's second administration 
was the currency agitation, which involved a serious financial panic. On 
June 8, 1893, it was observed that the gold reserve in the United States 
treasury, usually kept at $100,000,000, had fallen to $89,600,000. The 
result was a waning of business confidence all over the country, and it 
was evident that only the most vigorous measures could prevent a dis- 
astrous panic. On June 30th President Cleveland called a special ses- 
sion of Congress, to meet on August 7th, to afford such relief as was 
possible by legislation. This was too late, however, to stop the panic 
which had already set in. In July, August and September banks all over 
the country, including 560 State and private banks and 155 National 
banks, were forced to suspend, and business was prostrated in a ruinous 
manner. Early in August there was such a " currency famine " that a 
premium of $25 on the $1000 was offered for small bills. 

THE SILVER CONTROVERSY. 

There was a radical difference of opinion as to the cause of the 
trouble. One view was that it was caused by the free coinage of silver, 
which was then being practiced to a limited extent, and that the only 
way to restore prosperity and fiscal integrity was to put the country on 
the single gold basis. The other view was that trouble was caused by the 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 6oi 

limited coinage of silver and was to be remedied only by the free and 
Unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen ounces of silver to one 
of gold. A Silver Convention met in Denver on July nth, and issued 
an address to the American people, setting forth this view of the case, 
and the National Bi-metallic League, with similar objects, met in Chicago 
on August i st. The President, however, took the anti-silver view of the 
case, and favored the gold standard. When Congress met he recom- 
mended in a message the repeal of the law under which compulsory 
purchase of silver by the Government was made. A bill for that pur- 
pose was introduced in the House, and soon passed. In the Senate it 
met with bitter opposition from the friends of free silver. It was amended 
with a clause pledging the Government to maintain the bi-metallic system 
of currency. A long and acrimonious debate followed. Senator Allen, 
of Nebraska, made against the bill a speech that lasted fourteen hours, 
the longest on record in the United States Senate. Finally the bill, as 
amended, became law on November ist. 

This action saved the credit of the country and helped to restore 
normal conditions in business. But it marked the beginning of one of 
the greatest political struggles in the history of the nation since the 
slavery question was settled. Former party lines were forgotten, though 
old party names and organizations, were retained, and the politics of the 
country were divided on the silver issue ; whether there should be free 
and unlimited coinage of silver at 1 6 to i, or whether the country should 
be put and kept on a gold standard. 

BOND ISSUES. 

Meantime, under existing laws, the stock of gold in the United 
States Treasury was in constant danger of depletion, and its falling 
below the sum of $100,000,000 had a disturbing effect upon business. 
The President determined to keep it at that sum, and to that end was 
compelled to resort to the purchase of gold by issuing Government bonds 
payable in gold. On January 17, 1894, $50,000,000 of such bonds were 
issued, and on November 13, 1894, another issue of like amount was 
made. Other loans for the same purpose followed. These added to the 
amount of the national debt, and on that account brought much criticism 
upon the President. But they also accomplished his purpose of main- 
taining the public credit and preventing further financial panics. 



602 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

THE TARIFF FIGHT. 

Mr. Cleveland had been elected to the Presidency as an avowed 
champion of Free Trade, and his message to Congress strongly urged 
the abolition of the Protective system. In accordance with his views a 
bill was introduced into the House on December 19, 1893, by Mr. Wilson, 
of West Virginia, providing for a revenue tariff. This was adopted by 
the House in due time, and then was sent to the Senate. There it met 
with determined opposition, not only from Republicans but from Demo- 
crats. No less than 634 amendments were made to the Wilson bill, 
transforming it into an entirely new measure and altogether changing its 
essential principles. In this form it was finally adopted by Congress. 
The President declined to sign it, and it became a law without his 
signature on August 28, 1894. 

ADMISSION OF UTAH. 

The Territory of Utah had long sought admission to Statehood, and 
was, in point of population, entitled thereto. It had been kept out of the 
Union, however, because of the practice of polygamy which prevailed 
there. In 1893, however, it adopted a constitution abolishing and forever 
prohibiting polygamy, and upon that Congress, in December of that year, 
considered the question of admission. A bill to that end was introduced, 
and after some delay was passed. On July 17, 1894, the President 
signed it, and thus Utah became in January, 1896, the forty-fifth State in 
the American Union. 

Of the great strikes and other industrial and social agitations which 
prevailed during this administration, involving the use of the United 
States army for the vindication of law and order, detailed notice will be 
taken in another chapter. 

FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 

President Cleveland sent a special commissioner to Hawaii to 
investigate the revolution there and the attempt at annexation to the 
United States. As a result of the investigation he not only persisted in 
his opposition to annexation, but favored the restoration of Queen 
Liliuokalani. Finding the latter impracticable, however, he finally, on 
August 8, 1 894, recognized the revolutionary government of Hawaii as a 
sovereign republic. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 603 

Another rebellion broke out in Cuba in 1895, directed by Cubans 
who had been resident in the United States. Much interest in the 
struggle was felt in the United States, and the sympathies of this country 
were manifestly with the insurgents. This led to ill-feeling between this 
country and Spain, and the Spanish authorities in Cuba began to be sus- 
picious of all American steamers approaching that island, and of American 
visitors to it. Several steamers were fired at and subjected to search, 
under suspicion of conveying filibusters or contraband material. Some 
American citizens were also arrested and imprisoned in Cuba on similar 
charges. These incidents gradually strained diplomatic relations between 
the United States and Spain, and opened the way for the open rupture 
which occurred early in the next administration. 

THE VENEZUELA BOUNDARY. 

The dispute between Venezuela and Great Britain over the boundary 
line between the former and the latter's colony of Guiana, which had been 
in existence for many years, grew more acute in 1895, and assumed a 
most threatening aspect. It seemed probable that Great Britain would 
enforce her claims with arms. Deeming such action on the part of a 
European Power toward an American republic a violation of the princi- 
ples of the Monroe Doctrine and inimical to the peace and welfare of the 
United States, the President decided to intervene. On December 17, 
1895, he sent to Congress a message, very strongly worded, asking for 
authority and for means to intervene, by appointing a commission which 
should determine the true boundary line. The President bluntly inti- 
mated that such action might mean war with Great Britain. Congress 
responded favorably, making a liberal appropriation, and the commission 
was appointed. For some time much ill-feeling existed between the 
United States and Great Britain over the matter, and there was some 
intemperate talk of war. The net result, however, was that Great Britain 
agreed to submit the case to arbitration, as Venezuela had requested, and 
the arbitrators established the boundary on a compromise line, much 
more favorable to Venezuela than the one which Great Britain was about 
to insist upon when the President intervened. 

In January, 1897, tne President concluded a general arbitration 
treaty with Great Britain, sweeping in its terms. This was sent tp the 
Senate early in the next administration, when it was rejected. 



604 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

An extradition treaty with Sweden was ratified and proclaimed in 
March, 1893, having been negotiated by the previous administration. 
Some changes were made in the Chinese Exclusion law. A new treaty 
was negotiated with Japan. An extradition treaty with Norway was 
proclaimed on November 9, 1893. 

ELECTION OF McKINLEY. 

The time for another Presidential election came around in 1896. 
Mr. Cleveland's administration had been on the whole able and patriotic. 
But on the silver question, as well as some other matters, he had alienated 
a large part of the Democratic party. The Populist party had greatly 
increased in strength. The Republicans had consolidated their forces 
and had won much strength from prevailing popular discontent. 

The most interesting struggle in Convention was that of the Demo- 
crats, where the issue turned on approval or non-approval of the Cleve- 
land administration. The enemies of the administration won the day. 
They adopted a platform condemning the policy of the administration, 
and calling for the free coinage of silver at 16 to 1. On this they nomi- 
nated for President William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, an extreme advo- 
cate of silver coinage, and for Vice-President Arthur Sewall, of Maine. 
The Populists also nominated Mr. Bryan for President, but named for 
Vice-President Thomas Watson, of Georgia. The Republicans, with 
scarcely a show of contest, nominated for President William McKinley, 
of Ohio, author of the McKinley tariff, and for Vice-President Garrett A. 
Hobart, of New Jersey, on a platform distinctly declaring for the mainte- 
nance of the gold standard of currency. A considerable part of the 
Democratic party refused to support Mr. Bryan and the silver platform, 
and put up candidates of their own — General Palmer, of Illinois, for 
President, and General Buckner, of Kentucky, for Vice-President. Many 
Democrats, however, decided to vote for the Republican candidates as 
the surest way of defeating the free silver movement. 

The election was held in November, and resulted in a sweeping 
victory for the Republicans. McKinley and Hobart polled a large 
majority of the popular vote over their Democratic opponents. The 
electoral votes were 271 for McKinley and 176 for Bryan. 

At the end of his second administration Mr. Cleveland retired to 
private life. 




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CHAPTER LIII. 



Assassination of President Carnot of France — French Operations Abroad 
— Universal Suffrage in Belgium — Italy in Abyssinia — African Af- 
fairs — China and Japan — Revolts in Cuba and Crete. 



A TROUBLOUS period of the world at large now demands atten- 
tion, marked with wars and rumors of wars, and the disappear- 
ance of many great figures from public life. The year 1893 saw 
no fewer than four Cabinets in France, with the disappearance 
from public life of many men smirched by the Panama scandals. The 
conquest of a great part of Siam was effected. In the next year other 
Cabinet crises occurred. Then came a hideous catastrophe. On June 
24th President Sadi Carnot, one of the purest and wisest and best of 
rulers in the world, was assassinated by a vindictive Socialist, and was 
borne to the grave amid the lamentations of France and of the world. 

Three days after the murder of Carnot, a new French President was 
elected. This was M. Casimir-Perier, a statesman of high character and 
ability, whose administration promised well for the French Republic. For 
a short time the political affairs of France seemed to be settling down 
into peace and harmony. Early in January, 1895, however, the Cabinet 
resigned, and a few days later, on January 15th, President Casimir- 
Perier startled the world by resigning his orifice. The causes of this ex- 
traordinary step were not clear, and indeed have never been fully eluci- 
dated. They were, however, generally believed to be in no wise dishon- 
orable to him, and it has since appeared that they were connected with 
what has become notorious as the Dreyfus case, of which we shall hear 
more in a later chapter. Two day s later Felix Faure, a man of admira- 
ble standing, was elected President in his place. 

FRENCH OPERATIONS ABROAD. 

These domestic troubles did not, however, prevent France from pur- 
suing an active career in foreign affairs. In 1895 a regular war was 
waged against Madagascar, to enforce the French claims to a protecto- 
rate over that island. In September the capital, Antananirivo, was cap- 

32 607 



608 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

tured by the French forces and the Government dispersed. In the fol- 
lowing year Madagascar was formally declared to be a colony of France. 
Still more important was the drawing together of France and Rus- 
sia. For years the French Republic had stood without an ally in Europe. 
President Faure, however, succeeded in coming to a mutually advantage- 
ous understanding with the Russian Government, and in 1896 formed 
a practical alliance with that country, which was fully cemented by his 
visit to the Czar in 1897. 

UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE IN BELGIUM. 

Politics in Belgium had for some time been in an agitated state, 
owing to the demands of the Socialists for the overthrow of the Clerical 
oligarchy, which was in power. In 1893 a l° n g ste P toward a peaceful 
revolution was effected by the granting of universal suffrage, with, how- 
ever, a complicated system of plural ballots. 

A Chancellor crisis occurred in Germany in the following year. 
General Caprivi, a high-minded soldier, who had been appointed Chan- 
cellor to succeed Bismarck, found himself the prey of an unscrupulous 
ring of intriguers. Unwilling to make himself the tool or the scapegoat 
of their machinations, he resigned his office, and was succeeded by 
Prince Hohenlohe. 

The Kingdom of Hungary was, in 1894, the scene of another peace- 
ful revolution. In that year a number of liberal laws were enacted, 
especially that making marriage a civil contract and decreeing exact 
equality of all religious sects before the law. In this Hungary placed 
herself in the front rank of progressive nations. 

ITALY IN ABYSSINIA. 

The Italian attempt to found a colony in Africa and to effect the con- 
quest of Abyssinia had met with little success. In 1896 it came to a dis- 
astrous crisis. On March 1st Menelek, King of Shoa, who had assumed 
by virtue of power the crown as Negus or Emperor of Abyssinia, in- 
flicted a crushing defeat upon the Italian army under General Baratieri, 
at Adowa. Thereupon Count Crispi, the Italian Prime Minister, resigned 
his office and was succeeded by the Marquis Rudini. In October follow- 
ing a treaty was concluded between Italy and Abyssinia, under which 
Italy withdrew her pretensions to a protectorate over the African realm. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 609 

AFRICAN AFFAIRS. 

Italy was not the only Power that had African problems to deal with 
in these years. In the summer of 1893 the atrocities of Lobengula, King 
of Matabeleland, in South Africa t brought him into conflict with the 
British South Africa Company, and a short war ensued. The result of 
it, in 1894, was the deposition of Lobengula, and the establishment of 
British authority over Matabeleland, which thus became a part of Rhode- 
sia, the new British colony. 

In the fall of 1895 tne oppressions of the Boer Government of the 
Transvaal upon the British and American colonists there became so great 
as to provoke formal protest. This state of affairs prompted Dr. Jame- 
son, the British Administrator of the South Africa Company's territory, 
to organize a raid into the Transvaal in aid of the colonists, with the in- 
tention of overthrowing- the Boer Government. This mad and wicked 
undertaking failed utterly, and resulted only in the condition of the colo- 
nists being made less tolerable. Several of the leading English and 
American residents of the Transvaal were seized by the Boers, charged 
with complicity in the raid, and condemned to death. Their lives were 
spared only on the payment of enormous ransoms to President Kruger 
of the Transvaal. 

At the beginning of 1896 a British expedition was sent to Coomassie, 
the capital of Ashantee, to put a stop to the barbarities practiced there, 
and as a result Ashantee was made a British dependency. In the 
same year the British general, Kitchener, Sirdar of the Egyptian army, 
began a formidable expedition up the Nile to retake Khartoum and re- 
deem the Soudan from the savagery of the Mahdists. In September, 
1896, he reached and occupied Dongola. 

CHINA AND JAPAN. 

Chinese despotism in Corea led in 1894 to intervention by Japan 
and a war between the two great Mongolian Powers. Hostilities began 
in July, 1894. The Japanese won the first engagement, at Ping-yang, in 
Corea, on September 1 6th, and followed this with a great naval victory 
off the Yalu River the next day. Then they invaded Manchuria, and 
by the end of November captured Port Arthur. Early in the next 
year the Japanese captured the forts and captured or destroyed the 
Chinese fleet at Wei-Hai-Wei, and in March occupied New Chwang. 



6lO STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

China then sued for peace, and by the treaty of Shimonoseki, in April, 
recognized the independence of Corea, ceded Formosa and Leao-Tong 
to Japan, and agreed to pay a large indemnity in cash. These terms 
were reasonable and moderate. But Russia coveted Leao-Tong for her- 
self, and accordingly got France and Germany to join her in threatening 
Japan with a joint attack by all three of them if she did not renounce 
her title to that province. Japan reluctantly yielded to this bullying. But 
the result of the war was to show Japan to be entitled to a place in the 
front rank of the world's military and naval powers, as she had already 
won such rank in civilization and the art of government. 

REVOLTS IN CUBA AND CRETE. 

The last of the Cuban revolutions was begun in 1895. Spain sent 
an enormous army to the island, and under the rule of the distinguished 
Marshal Martinez Campos, and under the savage administration of 
General Weyler, "the butcher," who deliberately decreed the extermina- 
tion of all Cubans, men, women and children, made desperate efforts to 
retain her control of the island. She was unable, however, to suppress 
the revolt, or even to check its progress. 

A revolution occurred in the Philippine Islands also in 1894, which 
was suppressed by the Spaniards by the simple expedient of paying the 
leaders a large sum of money. 

An insurrection against Turkish misrule was begun in Crete in 1896 
and continued into 1897. Greece decided to intervene and annex the 
island, and sent an armed force thither for the purpose early in 1897. 
But the European Powers intervened to prevent her from doing so, and 
established a blockade of the island. Their purpose was, however, not to 
uphold Turkish tyranny, but to make Crete autonomous, a scheme which 
was effected at a later date. 

We must also notice in passing the civil war in Brazil, which raged 
during the latter part of 1893 and most of 1894. It resulted finally in 
the suppression of the insurgents. 

The Russian Czar, Alexander III, died on November 1, 1894, and 
was succeeded by his son, Nicholas II. The Shah of Persia, Nasr-ed- 
Deen, was assassinated on May 1, 1896, and was succeeded by his son, 
Muzaffer-ed-Deen. 



CHAPTER LIV. 



Columbian Fair and Celebration— Quick Railroad Time— The Cherokee 

Lands — Centenary of the Capitol — Great Achievements 

— In Austria-Hungary — Necrology. 



THE World's Columbian Exposition, held at Chicago, Illinois, from 
May i to October 30, 1893, was by far the greatest world's fair 
that had down to that time ever been held, though it was slightly 
surpassed in number of visitors by that of Paris in 1889. Its site 
occupied 633 acres, of which 190 acres were under roofs. The main build- 
ing was the largest in the world, covering 30^ acres. Most of the 
buildings were covered externally with a white composition of plaster, 
cement and hemp, so that the whole fair was popularly termed the 
"White City." No less than fifty-two foreign countries participated in 
the exhibition. The total number of visitors was 27,529,400. The fair 
was opened with imposing ceremonies, and its progress was marked 
with many others. There were a World's Congress of Religions and 
numerous other international congresses of great interest. 

QUICK RAILROAD TIME. 

The improvements in railroads had made by this time so much 
progress that for a passenger train to be run at the rate of a mile a 
minute was an every-day performance. Special runs were made at 
much higher speed. The fastest was that of Engine No. 999, on the 
New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, which, on May 11, 1893, 
ran a mile in thirty-two seconds, on the road between Rochester and 
Buffalo, N. Y. 

THE CHEROKEE LANDS. 

A large tract of land, containing more than 6,000,000 acres, lying 
between Kansas and Oklahoma, was on May 18th purchased from the 
Cherokee Indians by the United States Government for $8,596,736, to 
be added to the Territory of Oklahoma. On September 16th, following, 

6u 



6l2 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

the tract was thrown open to settlement, and was quickly occupied bi 
more than 100,000 persons, most of whom went in with a wild rush. 

CENTENARY OF THE CAPITOL. 

The centennial anniversary of the laying of the corner-stone of the 
Capitol at Washington was celebrated on September 18, 1893, with 
elaborate exercises. William Wirt Henry, of Virginia, was the chiei 
orator of the occasion. 

A furious hurricane swept the Atlantic coast of the Southern States 
on August 28th, resulting in the loss of more than 600 lives at Beaufort, 
S. C, and adjacent places. This was followed by another on October 
2d, which devastated the Coast of the Gulf of Mexico and destroyed 
more than 2000 lives. 

GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS. 

The year 1894 saw the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal, in 
England, and of the German canal connecting the Baltic and North Seas, 
of which mention has previously been made. In the following year all 
previous records of advances toward the North Pole were eclipsed by 
the achievement of Dr. Frithiof Nansen, a Norwegian explorer. He 
went as far north as he could in his ship, the " Fram," simply drifting 
with the great ice-pack north of the Asian continent. When finally no 
further progress was to be made in that way, he and one companion 
took to the ice on a sledge, and reached a latitude of 86 deg. 14 min. 
His entire expedition returned to Europe in safety. The same year was 
signalized by two scientific discoveries of great interest. These were the 
discovery of argon, a hitherto unknown constituent of the atmosphere, 
by Lord Rayleigh and William Ramsay, and the discovery of the so- 
called X-rays, by Professor Roentgen, by means of which it has become 
possible to see and to photograph the interiors of solid bodies. 

IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 

While Americans were celebrating the four hundredth anniversary 
of the discovery of the continent, Hungarians were preparing to com- 
memorate the one thousandth anniversary of their chief city, Buda-Pesth, 
the millennial anniversary of which was marked in 1896 with a great 
world's fair. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 613 

In the same year the famous Iron Gates of the Danube were 
opened — the obstructions to commerce at that point were removed and 
the river made a far more valuable highway of trade and travel than 
ever before. 

On February 2, 1894, the famous old corvette " Kearsarge," which 
fought and destroyed the Confederate cruiser "Alabama" in the Civil 
War, was wrecked on the coral reef of Roncador, in the Gulf of Mexico, 
and was entirely lost. 

The labor agitations of 1894 included the setting out of an "army" 
of unemployed men and tramps, under the lead of Jacob S. Coxey', from 
Massillon, Ohio, to march to Washington and make a demonstration 
against the Government for social and industrial relief. It was joined 
by other like bodies, and reached Washington at the end of April. 
Coxey and other leaders were locked up for trespassing upon the Capi- 
tol grounds, and the motley band was dispersed. 

NECROLOGY. 

The deaths in 1893 included Taine, the French historian and critic; 
Jowett, the British educator, head of Balliol College ; Marshal Mac- 
Mahon, ex-President of France ; Gounod, the musician ; Parkman, the 
historian; Tyndall, the scientist; and Merivale, the novelist. In 1894 
the world lost Kossuth, the Hungarian liberator ; Layard, the archaeolo- 
gist ; Helmholtz, the scientist ; Oliver Wendell Holmes, the poet and 
essayist; Rubinstein, the pianist; and Froude, the historian. In 1895 
died Huxley, the scientist ; Rawlinson, the historian and archaeologist ; 
Dumas the Younger, novelist and dramatist ; and Pasteur, the founder 
of the science of bacteriology. The roll in 1896 bore the names of 
Leighton and Millais, the painters ; Thomas Hughes, author and philan- 
thropist ; Mrs. Stowe, author of " Uncle Tom's Cabin ;" and William 
Morris, Socialist, poet and publisher. 



CHAPTER LV. 



William McKinley Becomes President of the United States — The Dinglev 
Tariff — Partition of Samoa — Intervention in Cuba — "Remember 
the Maine" — Beginning of the War — Manila Bay — Cer- 
vera's Fleet — Santiago — Peace Negotiations — The 
Philippine Insurrection — Events of the Ad- 
ministration — Presidential Election. 



THE last presidential administration of the nineteenth century 
began in the United States with the inauguration of William 
McKinley on March 4, 1897. ft was a ^ so destined to be one of 
the most momentous and important of all adminstrations. One 
of the earliest acts of Mr. McKinley was, on June 16, 1897, ^e sub- 
mission to the Senate of a new treaty for annexation of Hawaii to the 
United States. The treaty was carefully considered for a long time, 
and some negotiations were had with Japan concerning the status of her 
subjects settled in the islands. It was finally ascertained that, while a 
strong majority of the Senate favored the treaty, it would be impossible 
to get the necessary two-thirds vote for it. The treaty was therefore 
abandoned, and on March 16, 1898, a joint resolution providing for 
annexation was introduced into Congress in its place. This was adopted 
by the House of Representatives on June 15th by a vote of 209 to 91, 
and by the Senate on July 6th by a vote of 42 to 21. On August 12th 
the United States flag was formally raised at Honolulu, and the act of 
annexation was thus made complete. 

THE DINGLEY TARIFF. 

A new tariff bill, in accordance with the Republican principle of 
protection, was framed by Mr. Dingley, Chairman of the House Com- 
mittee on Ways and Means, and was introduced on March 15, 1897. ft 
was debated at length, and received a few amendments in the Senate, 
but was finally adopted by both houses, and became a law on July 24, 

[897. 

614 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 615 

The same year saw a renewal of negotiations with Great Britain 
concerning the Behring Sea seal fisheries. The negotiations continued 
into 1898, when the commissioners appointed by the two countries 
agreed upon the indemnity that was to be paid by the United States, 
under the terms of the Paris award, for the seizure of British vessels. 
The sum of $473,157.26 was accordingly paid. 

PARTITION OF SAMOA. 

The year 1899 saw the culmination of troubles which had been 
brewing in Samoa for a long time. Civil war broke out among the 
natives over the disputed succession to the throne, and intervention ol 
the three Powers followed. For a time there was some friction among 
the Powers, Germany being on one side and Great Britain and the 
United States on the other. Ultimately it was amicably agreed to 
abolish the tripartite control of the islands and to partition them out- 
right among the Powers. The United States took the island of Tutuila, 
which contains the fine harbor of Pago-Pago, the most valuable in the 
whole group. Germany took the other two islands, and compensated 
Great Britain by cessions of territory in the East Indian archipelago 
and elsewhere and in Zanzibar. 

INTERVENTION IN CUBA. 

Mention has hitherto been made of the revolt in Cuba, and of the 
friction between the United States and Spain resulting therefrom. In 
April, 1897, the President appointed a commissioner to investigate 
reported cases of Spanish oppression of American citizens, and later 
notified the Spanish Government that he recognized a state of war to 
be existing in Cuba, and would require observance of the usual laws of 
war so far as American citizens were concerned. There was much ao-ita- 
tion in the United States in favor of recognition of the independence 
of the Cuban Republic, and, indeed, of armed intervention, and various 
resolutions to those ends were introduced into Congress. But the Presi- 
dent stood firmly against all such action, as premature and unwarranted. 
In October, 1897, tne infamous Wyler was removed from rule in Cuba 
by the Spanish Government, and General Blanco was put into his place. 
But the state of affairs in the island was not materially changed. 



6l6 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

The United States made appropriations for the relief of starving 
people in Cuba, and early in 1898 shiploads of supplies and a number 
of nurses were sent to the island. A little later relations between the 
two countries were much embittered by the revelation that the Spanish 
minister at Washington, Senor Dupuy de Lome, had written a letter to 
a friend in Havana coarsely reviling President McKinley and the United 
States Government. This led to his resignation and departure from the 
country, another minister being sent to take his place. 

"REMEMBER THE MAINE." 

In order to cultivate a friendly spirit between the two countries it 
was arranged early in 1 898 that a Spanishjwarship should visit the harbor 
of New York, and an American warship should visit Havana. The 
Spanish ship " Viscaya " accordingly came to New York, and was re- 
ceived in a courteous and friendly way. The American ship " Maine" 
similarly went to Havana, and was well received. But not long after her 
arrival, and while she was lying in the harbor of Havana, at a spot 
specially selected for her by the Spanish authorities, the " Maine" was 
destroyed by an external submarine explosion, probably that of a mine 
or torpedo, though its exact nature has never been ascertained. This 
tragic incident occurred on the evening of February 15th, and 2 officers 
and 266 men were instantly killed. 

The people and Government of the United States acted with marked 
calmness and self-control. There was little doubt that the awful deed 
had been done by Spaniards, with some degree of official connivance. 
But judgment was suspended and friendly relations were maintained 
with Spain. 

BEGINNING OF THE WAR. 

The Spanish Government, however, became less and less friendly in 
its attitude toward the United States. It declined to let Americans re- 
lieve the distress of starving and dying people in Cuba, and demanded 
the recall of the United States Consul-General, General Lee. Some of 
the most conservative and prudent men in the United States, including 
Senator Proctor of Vermont, visited Cuba and gave appalling accounts 
of the horrors existing there. Congress unanimously adopted a resolu- 
tion appropriating $50,000,000, to be placed unreservedly in the Presi- 
dent's hands, for purposes of national defence. The President acted, 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 6lJ 

however, with the utmost reserve and caution, wishing- to avoid war if 

7 » O 

possible, and to give Spain every possible opportunity of righting the 
hideous wrongs in Cuba, which were causing the whole civilized world to 
protest against their continuance. 

Finally, on April nth, the President sent a message to Congress 
telling of the terrible state of affairs in Cuba, and of the great cost and 
serious menace they entailed upon the United States, as well as their re- 
proach to civilization. Congress replied on April 19th with resolutions 
declaring that Cuba should be free from Spanish rule, and authorizing the 
President to intervene. This action was made known to the Spanish 
Government, which immediately, on April 21st, declared war against the 
United States. 

MANILA BAY. 

Preparations were at once made for sending an army to Cuba. First, 
however, a United States fleet was sent to blockade the Cuban coast. 
This it did effectively, and it seized many Spanish ships as prizes of war. 
At the same time it was reported that a Spanish fleet at Manila, in the 
Philippine Islands, was preparing to prey upon American commerce in 
the Pacific, and even to attack San Francisco and other Pacific coast 
ports. Commodore Dewey, at Hong Kong, was therefore directed to 
proceed with his squadron to Manila and destroy the Spanish fleet., He 
set out at once, and reached the entrance to Manila harbor on the night 
of April 30th. He steamed into the harbor in the darkness, and at day- 
break lay within range of the Spanish fleet and forts. An attack was at 
once made, and after a few hours of fighting, the Spanish forts were 
silenced and the entire Spanish fleet was destroyed. Dewey did not lose 
a man, nor have one ship materially injured. 

This brilliant achievement electrified the world. Congress voted its 
thanks to Dewey, and authorized his promotion to the rank of admiral, 
which was revived for his especial benefit. The Spanish power in the 
Philippines was broken down, and the islands became by conquest the 
property of the United States. 

CERVERA'S FLEET. 

Meantime the Spanish Government dispatched Admiral Cervera with 
four powerful battleships to American waters, either to raise the block- 
ade of Cuba, or to attack the coast cities of the United States. Much 



6l8 STORY OF ONE HUNDRLD YEARS. 

alarm was felt in this country until on May 19th it was found that 
Cervera's fleet had entered the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. It was 
quickly penned in there by Commodore Schley, who was presently joined 
by Commodore Sampson, with a strong fleet. Before this there had 
been some bombardment of points on the coasts of Cuba and Porto Rico 
by the United States ships. On the night of June 3d Lieutenant Hobson 
took the big coal ship " Merrimac " into the narrowest part of the Santi- 
ago channel and sunk her, thus hoping to prevent the exit of the Spanish 
ships. He and his six comrades were captured after this exploit by the 
Spaniards, but for their dashing heroism were treated with the utmost 
respect and consideration. At about the same time Schley bombarded 
and destroyed the forts at the entrance to Santiago harbor. On June 6th 
the advance guard of the American army was landed at Guantanamo on 
the south coast of Cuba. On June 2 2d General Shafter landed a strong 
army near Santiago,, and the siege of that city was soon begun. 

At about this time another Spanish fleet under Admiral Camara set 
out for the Pacific by the way of the Suez canal, to retake Manila and at- 
tack the Californian coast. The United States at once prepared a fleet, 
under Commodore Watson, to proceed to Spain and attack its coast 
cities. This menace had the effect of causing Camara' s hurried return 
to Spain. We must not forget, either, the voyage of the " Oregon." 
That splendid battleship was at San Francisco before the war. It was 
patent that she would be needed in the Atlantic and in the Gulf more 
than in the Pacific, so she was ordered to hasten thither. Her com- 
mander, Captain Clark, brought her at racing speed around Cape Horn, 
and reached the Florida coast without an accident, and with the ship 
ready for instant service, a feat unapproached in the history of the 
world's navies. 

On the morning of July 3d Admiral Cervera made a desperate at- 
tempt to break out of Santiago. He came out with his fleet at full speed, 
and headed toward the west. The American fleet was ready for him, and 
a tremendous running fight ensued. Two Spanish torpedo boats were 
engaged and sunk by the United States gunboat " Gloucester," formerly 
a pleasure yacht. The four big warships, " Maria Theresa," "Oquendo," 
"Viscaya," and "Cristobal Colon," were pursued by the " Brooklyn," 
"Oregon," "Iowa" and "Texas." After a running fight of fifty miles 
along the Cuban coast all the Spanish ships were driven ashore and de- 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 619 

stroyed, with a loss of more than 300 men killed, 159 wounded, and 1800 
prisoners. The American losses were one man killed and three wounded, 
with no ship seriously injured. 

SANTIAGO. 

A series of land battles was fought around Santiago, beginning on 
July 1st. At El Caney the American losses were 100 killed and wounded 
and the Spanish losses twice as heavy. Negotiations for surrender 
followed, and on July 17th Santiago was surrendered to the United 
States army. 

On July 25th the invasion of Porto Rico was begun, and the con- 
quest of that island was speedily and easily effected. 

PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. 

At the beginning of August the Spanish Government recognized 
the hopelessness of its cause and sought peace through the friendly me- 
diation of the French Government. Hostilities were finally suspended at 
the signing of a protocol on August 12th, though some fighting occurred 
near Manila on the following day, but before news of the protocol 
arrived there. 

The President appointed, on August 26th, five peace commissioners, 
to conclude terms of peace with Spain. These were William R. Day, of 
Ohio, Secretary of State ; Senators C. K. Davis, of Minnesota ; W. P. 
Frye, of Maine, and George Gray, of Delaware ; and Whitelaw Reid, of 
New York. They proceeded to Paris and there met corresponding rep- 
resentatives of the Spanish Government. Long deliberations followed, 
the end of which was the conclusion of a treaty of peace, providing for 
the independence of Cuba, the cession to the United States of Porto 
Rico, the Philippines, and Guam, and the payment to Spain, on account 
of her expenditures on public works in the Philippines, of $20,000,000. 
This treaty was ratified by the United States Senate early in 1899. 

THE PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION. 

A faction of the Philippine natives, under the lead of Emilio Aguin- 
aldo, objected to the cession ol the islands to the United States, and re- 
vived against the latter the revolt they had years before made against Spain. 
This necessitated the sending of a large American army to the Philippines, 



620 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

and a tedious campaign against irregular guerrilla-fighting followed. A 
civil government was established in the Philippines by the United States 
early in 1900, but the insurrection of the natives, chiefly in the island of 
Luzon, continued and is not yet wholly quelled. 

EVENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 

The McKinley Administration saw the cities of New York, Brook- 
lyn, Long Island City, etc., united into one great city on January 1, 1898, 
thus forming the second largest city in the world. 

In 1897 the world was startled by the discovery of gold in the Klon 
dyke region, partly in Alaska and partly in British Columbia, in deposits 
of wonderful richness, and a rush to that region followed similar to that 
of years before to California. In 1 890-1 900 other deposits were found 
at Cape Nome, on the Alaska coast, and another rush was made thither. 
These latter, however, proved disappointing. 

The years of this Administration were marked with the greatest 
commercial expansion known in American history. For the first time 
the United States became the greatest commercial nation in the world, 
her exports surpassing those of any other land. Especially was this the 
case in engineering supplies, American rails, locomotives, bridges, ma- 
chinery, etc., being sent to Europe, Asia, Africa and the islands of the sea. 

The final census of the century was taken in the summer of 1900, 
and the population of the United States was found to be about 75,000,000. 

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 

The year 1900 saw another Presidential contest in the United States. 
The Republicans renominated President McKinley, and, as Vice-Presi- 
dent Hobart had died during his term of office, they nominated Theo- 
dore Roosevelt, Governor of New York, for Vice-President. The Demo- 
crats again nominated Mr. Bryan, with ex-Vice-President Stevenson as 
candidate for Vice-President. Various minor tickets were also put into 
the field, but the real contest was between these two. The chief issues 
were that of free silver or sound money, as in 1896, and that of "im- 
perialism," charged against the McKinley Administration on account of 
its acquisition of the Philippines. The election occurred on November 
6th, and resulted in the success of McKinley and Roosevelt by a large 
majority. 



CHAPTER LVL 



War Between Greece and Turkey — Queen Victoria's Jubilee — Redeeming' 

the Soudan — Germany in China — The Dreyfus Case — Spoliation 

of Finland— Australian Federation — The Transvaal War — 

Anarchist Murders— The Boxer Outbreak in China. 



THE year 1897 opened in Europe not quite so unprosperously as 
1896, but there was still trouble in the air. The Armenian ques- 
tion was not exhausted when an insurrection broke out in Crete, 
to which the Greek Government lent open support. Miscalculat- 
ing the strength of the Turkish Empire, or hoping that a vigorous stroke 
might set all Eastern Europe in a flame, the Greeks finally declared war 
on the Sultan, and tried to invade Macedonia. But the Powers refused 
to move ; it was generally thought that Greece had no right to open the 
Eastern question in such a violent manner, and she received no aid. 
Her raw army was overwhelmed by the numbers of the Turks, and fled 
in panic (April, 1897), so that the King had to sue for peace in the most 
humiliating fashion. The Powers insisted that the terms should not be 
too hard, for no one wished to encourage the Sultan, and Greece was let 
off with the cession of a few mountain passes and a fine of four million 
Turkish pounds. . 

Following upon this war, however, the Cretan question was finally 
settled. The island was made autonomous and practically independent, 
under a Governor-General of its own, and Prince George, second son of 
the King of Greece, was chosen to be its Governor. This step gave the 
island its coveted home rule, and made its ultimate annexation to Greece 
practically certain. 

QUEEN VICTORIA'S JUBILEE. 

This Eastern crisis having passed over without any further develop 
ments, the inhabitants of the United Kingdom and of the whole British 
Empire were able to celebrate, undisturbed by any grave trouble from 
without, the Queen's "Diamond Jubilee" on the 20th of June, 1897. 
Having completed the sixtieth year of her reign the aged sovereign had 

6z 1 



62 2 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

then worn the English crown for a longer period than any of her ances- 
tors. Her grandfather, George III, who died in the fifty-ninth year after 
his accession, was the only British monarch who approached her length 
of rule. 

REDEEMING THE SOUDAN. 

The Soudan expedition, which had started in 1896 to destroy the 
power of the Khalifa and re-conquer the valley of the Middle Nile, had 
met with uniform success from its start. Under the able guidance of 
Sir Herbert Kitchener, the commander of the Egyptian army, it had 
cleared the dervishes out of the province of Dongola in 1896 after the 
battle of Ferket. In the next year the invaders had pushed on to the 
line of Abu-Hamed and Berber, driving the enemy before them. In 1898 
the Khalifa was to be attacked in the heart of his empire ; a considerable 
body of British troops was sent up to join the Egyptians, and in April the 
advanced guard of the Arab host was destroyed at the battle of the 
Atbara. In August Kitchener marched on Omdurman, the enemy's 
capital, and was met outside its walls by the Khalifa at the head of the 
full force of his barbarous realm, at least 50,000 fighting men. In one 
long day's fighting these fanatical hordes were scattered and half extermi- 
nated ; it is calculated that 1 1,000 were slain and 16,000 wounded before 
their fierce charge was turned back (September 1st). Omdurman and 
Khartoum were occupied, and the Khalifa fled into the desert. 

The Khalifa soon afterward died. A railroad was built to Khartoum, 
and a college was founded in that city in memory of the illustrious 
Gordon, and thus the Soudan was redeemed for civilization. 

GERMANY IN CHINA. 

One of the most significant episodes of the year 1 897 was the seizure 
of the important Chinese port of Kiao-Chau by Germany, with some 
territory adjacent to it. This was done in return for the murder of two 
German missionaries by the Chinese. It marked the entrance of 
Germany as a factor in the "Chinese problem," and led to the active 
participation of that Power in all subsequent considerations of the attitude 
of the civilized Powers toward China. 

The alliance between France and Russia, which was concluded by 
President Faure, was now made more marked, and the existence of a 
formal treaty, signed and sealed, was openly announced. 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 623 

THE DREYFUS CASE. 

In 1897 the Dreyfus case came to the fore. This extraordinary case 
had its origin in 1894, when the French Government discovered that 
some of its military secrets were being betrayed to Germany. A brilliant 
young officer, Captain Dreyfus, was accused of being the traitor. He 
was a Jew and was rich. He was hurried through a secret trial, in which 
he was not permitted to face his accusers, or even to know of what he 
was accused, and was sentenced to degradation and exile for life. The 
sentence was carried out with the utmost severity. In 1897, however, 
certain facts came out which indicated that he had been the victim of a 
conspiracy. Colonel Picquart, a brave army officer, made these dis- 
coveries. He was immediately sent out of the country by the authorities 
and attempts were made to hush the matter up. But many eminent 
men, including M. Scheurer-Kestner, a Senator, and M. Zola, the 
novelist, took the case up, and forced it to an issue. M. Zola made so 
fierce an attack upon certain army officers, in a letter to the President, 
that he was arrested and tried, and after a mockery of a trial sent to 
jail. This only added fuel to the flame of agitation, and the Govern- 
ment, after several Ministerial crises, was compelled to recall Dreyfus 
from exile and give him a new trial. The result of this trial was his 
moral acquittal, though a technical verdict was given against him by the 
use of grossly unjust means. After a nominal punishment he was set at 
liberty. The truth seems to be that an officer calling himself Count 
Esterhazy was the guilty man ; that some other officers, including a 
prominent general, were implicated with him ; and that a deliberate con- 
spiracy was formed by the men in control of the War Office and the 
General Staff of the army, to fix the guilt upon the innocent Dreyfus 
and then to stifle all investigation. The case aroused violent passions, 
and for a time a direct breach between the civil government and the army 
seemed imminent, while a furious wave of hatred against the Jews swept 
over France, fomented by the corrupt army ring. In the end, however, 
the civil authorities asserted themselves, and the management of the 
army was radically reformed. In the midst of the controversy, and 
largely as a result of anxiety and emotion aroused by it, President Faure 
died, and M. Loubet was elected President in his place. 

A new civil code, completely revolutionizing legal procedure, was 
adopted in Germany in 1898, to go into effect at the beginning of the 
33 



624 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

twentieth century — one of the most important developments of juris- 
prudence the world had seen in the hundred years. 

SPOLIATION OF FINLAND. 

A deplorable incident of 1898 was the spoliation ot Finland by 
Russia. That country had been for nearly a hundred years subject to 
the Russian crown, but autonomous in local affairs under a constitution 
of its own. It was the most loyal and by far the most enlightened part of 
the Czar's dominions. But the Czar, by a ruthless decree, abolished its 
constitution and reduced it to the rank of an ordinary Russian province. 
The newspaper press was suppressed, the use of the Finnish language 
in public matters forbidden, the schools put under a Russian censorship, 
and the whole country treated as Poland had been at the conquest of the 
latter. The world cried out in protest against this unsurpassed crime, 
but in vain. The Finns were helpless, and their only relief was in flight. 
A wholesale exodus of them began to the United States, Canada and 
other countries, and though forbidden by the Czar this movement bids 
fair to depopulate the land. 

AUSTRALIAN FEDERATION. 

The question of uniting the various Australian colonies in a single 
nation, after the fashion of Canada, had long been considered. A prac- 
tical plan was adopted in 1899, an d the union of the colonies in the 
"Commonwealth of Australia" was effected, to go into actual force on 
the first day of the new century. The constitution adopted was modelled 
very closely after that of the United States. This act of federation did 
not separate Australia from the British Empire, but rather made the 
union all the closer. 

THE TRANSVAAL WAR. 

In the spring and summer of 1899 the dispute between Great 
Britain and the Transvaal, over the latter' s treatment of British colonists, 
became more and more heated. It culminated in a sudden declaration of 
war by the Transvaal and the Orange River Free State — these two 
having formed an alliance. The Boer armies quickly overran Natal and 
a part of Cape Colony, where the British were totally unprepared to 
meet them, and strove to raise all the Dutch population of the Cape 
against British rule, "drive the British into the sea," and make all South 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 625 

Africa a purely Dutch confederation. The towns of Ladysmith, Kim- 
berley and Mafeking were besieged by overwhelming forces of Boers, 
and for a time things looked dark for the British Empire in Africa. 

The British Government quickly rose to meet the occasion. An 
army of more than 200,000 men was organized and hurried to the scene, 
the colonies in all parts of the world vieing with each other in the zeal 
and generosity with which they sent regiments to aid the mother country. 
Finally, after other leaders had failed, Lord Roberts, the hero of the 
Afghan war, was put in command. The siege of Kimberley was raised. 
A large Boer army under General Cronje was captured. The siege of 
Ladysmith was raised. Finally Mafeking, after one of the most stubborn 
and heroic defences in history, was also rescued. The war was then 
transferred to the soil of the two Boer States. The Orange State was 
soon conquered and annexed to the British Empire, and in the summer 
of 1900, before the war had been in progress a year, the Transvaal 
shared its fate. President Kruger, of the Transvaal, fled to Europe, 
and the war ended with the addition of two fine provinces to the British 
Empire, and the consolidation of all South Africa under the British flag. 

ANARCHIST MURDERS. 

The assassinations of the Empress Elizabeth of Austria in 1898, and 
of King Humbert of Italy in 1900, by Socialists of Anarchist proclivities, 
are to be recorded. Both these shocking crimes were committed simply 
for the sake of killing a ruler, for it was universally conceded that the 
careers of both victims had been free from reproach. 

In the spring of 1899 a Peace Congress met at The Hague, at the 
invitation of the Emperor of Russia, in which practically all the nations 
of the world were represented. After long consideration it adopted a 
scheme providing for a permanent international court of arbitration and 
some other rules relating to intervention, mediation, etc., which were 
accepted by most of the Powers, and which bid fair to go far toward 
lessening the dangers of war. 

THE BOXER OUTBREAK IN CHINA. 

Early in the summer of 1900 a great insurrection against mission- 
aries and all foreigners arose in China. The Chinese Government, fear- 
for its own safety, let the rebels have their own way, and even encouraged 



626 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

them. The foreign legations at Pekin were besieged for weeks by a 
bloodthirsty mob, and all communication with the outside world was cut 
off. Meantime all over the empire Christian missionaries and native 
converts were massacred with revolting" tortures. 

After much delay the various Powers interested assembled a relief 
force at Taku, and, urged to action by the vigorous leadership of the 
United States, sent it inland to the rescue of the legations. Tien-Tsin 
was captured after a sharp fight, and thereafter little Chinese opposition 
was encountered. Peking was reached and the legations were rescued. 
The German Minister and some other foreigners had, however, been 
murdered. The foreign troops then indulged in an orgie of looting, at 
both Peking and Tien-Tsin, in which the Americans happily did not par- 
ticipate, The Russians further disgraced civilization by committing 
wholesale massacres of thousands of inoffensive and defenceless Chinese, 
including women and children, often torturing them in a most savage 
manner. More than 7000 were thus slaughtered at once in a single town 
in Manchuria. A Russian army was sent in to effect the conquest and 
annexation of Manchuria. A large international army, of German, 
French, British and other troops, but including no Americans, was organ- 
ized and stationed at Peking, under the command of the German Field 
Marshal, Count von Waldersee, with the apparent intention of proceed- 
ing to the at least partial conquest and partition of the Chinese Empire. 

The nineteenth century thus came to a close with Great Britain 
triumphant in South Africa, and with the European Powers at peace 
among themselves and apparently uniting for the partition of the Chinese 
Empire. 



CHAPTER LVII. 



Rudyard Kipling — Electrical Appliances — The Germ Theory — Liquid 

Air— Rapid Transit— Sewage Disposal— Polar Exploration— The 

Crew— Objects of the Expedition— The Galveston 

Flood— The Death Roll. 



THE last four years of the century were not marked with many 
great advances in science and literature, though they saw the 
development of various earlier movements to full fruition. A 
great world's fair was held in Paris in 1900, at which were dis- 
played the latest achievements of human genius and skill. 

The chief literary name which we have here to mention is that of 
Rudyard Kipling. He had some years before established his place 
firmly among the best writers of the day. But, by the publication of his 
unique "Jungle Books," in 1896, and his sublime poem "Recessional," 
in 1897, he won easily the foremost rank among the rising authors of 
the closing century. 

ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES. 

Each year saw some new development of electrical science and 
some new harnessing of the mysterious fluid to do the works of man. 
Professor Marconi brought forward the often-tried system of wireless 
telegraphy, and succeeded in putting it practically to work. Electricity 
was used more and more as a motive power, and began to supplant 
steam on many railroads. 

In 1 899-1 900 electricity, as well as steam, compressed air and other 
forces were successfully employed for the propulsion of vehicles, from 
the lightest pleasure carriages to heavy trucks and drays, thus dispens- 
ing with horses. 

The submarine boats invented by J. P. Holland, of New York, M. 
Zede, of, France, and others, were in these years found to be practical, 
and the navies of these and other nations began to adopt them as a part 
of their effective force. 

THE GERM THEORY. 

The germ theory of disease, of which the illustrious Pasteur was 
the chief founder, continued to be developed, with increasing benefit to 

6zy 



628 STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

the human race. Yellow fever, Asiatic cholera, the bubonic plague, 
malaria and many other diseases were found to be produced by specific 
germs, and thus the way to the cure and prevention of them was opened. 
Methods of inoculation against some of these diseases were discovered, 
and proved to be largely efficacious. One of the most extraordinary 
discoveries was that the germs of malaria are propagated by a certain 
kind of mosquitoes, just as the bubonic plague is chiefly spread by rats. 
At the end of the century it seems quite probable that Pasteur's great 
prophecy will be fulfilled — that we shall cause all germ diseases to dis- 
appear from the world. 

. LIQUID AIR. 

An interesting invention, and one which promises important results 
in some future time, is that of the liquefaction of the atmosphere. This 
was first demonstrated by Professor Dewar, of the Royal Society, in 
London, but has since been commonly practiced by various methods. 
Liquid air is a clear fluid, of an inconceivable degree of cold. It is 
thought that it will in time be of great value for refrigerating purposes, 
for the storage of power and many other uses. As yet, however, no 
practical application of it has been made. 

RAPID TRANSIT. 

The vexing problems of passenger transit in large cities has been 
largely solved by the successful introduction of electric traction. The 
cable car succeeded the horse car, and the electric car has now made 
the cable obsolete. The last-named system, morever, by banishing the 
smoke, heat, etc., of steam locomotives, has made the use of under- 
ground railroads feasible. The last year of the century saw the begin- 
ning of a vast system of rapid transit in New York City by means of 
underground electric roads, including a tunnel under the East River to 
Brooklyn. 

SEWAGE DISPOSAL. 

Scarcely less troublesome in former years was the question of 
sewage disposal. The last few years have seen a strong revulsion against 
the practice of simply pouring it into the nearest water-course. Sewage 
farms and rendering works are now increasing in number, where the 
waste products of cities are utilized in a manner that is at once inoffensive 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 629 

and highly profitable. Thus all the sewage of Paris and Berlin is dis- 
posed of, and the same rational and economical system is coming more 
and more into favor in the United States. 

POLAR EXPLORATION. 

During these last four years several expeditions have been at work 
in Antarctic regions, but the results of their labors are not yet fully 
known. The year 1900 was signalized by a notable achievement in the 
Arctic regions, in which Nansen's advance toward the North Pole was 
surpassed. This was done by the Duke of the Abruzzi, a kinsman of 
the King of Italy, who had previously distinguished himself by his ascent 
of Mount St. Elias. He set out on June 12, 1899, in the " Stella Polare." 
This was a small vessel, some twenty yards in length, and was originally 
a whaling-boat. She had previously been used by Nansen in his Green- 
land expedition. She was specially fitted out for the present purpose un- 
der the personal supervision of the Duke, who looked after the minutest 
details, even the food placed on board passing through his own hands. 
Parts of the vessel were remodelled with a view to resisting the impact 
of the ice. She remained a sailing craft, but small engines were intro- 
duced with a speed capacity of five miles an hour, so that progress could 
be made in any weather. The engines were also intended for heating 
purposes. 

THE CREW. 

The crew comprised Captain Everson and ten Norwegian sailors, 
who were selected as best adapted to the requirements of the Arctic 
climate, two Italian seamen of exceptional physical strength to look after 
the sleighing arrangements, and four Alpine guides. The latter were a 
new feature in enterprises of this kind, and they proved a great success, 
although Nansen himself expressed the opinion that they would be prac- 
tically useless, the character of the Polar ice being quite different from 
that found in their native mountains. The chief of the guides, Pettignex, 
is one of the best-known and most experienced in the Val d' Aosta. The 
Duke's colleagues were Captain Cagni, of the Italian Marines, and a 
Piedmontese, and Dr. Count Quirini, who belongs to an ancient Venetian 
family. Both these gentlemen accompanied the Duke throughout his 
Alaska explorations, which have been recently described by Dr. 
Filippi. 



63O STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 

OBJECTS OF THE EXPEDITION. 

The principal end the Duke of the Abruzzi had in view was to pen- 
etrate the Arctic region farther even than Nansen had gone. The high- 
est latitude reached was 86 deg. 33 min., or nineteen geographical miles 
farther north than Nansen's "farthest north." 

THE GALVESTON FLOOD. 

The last year of the century was marked with one of the most 
dreadful wholesale tragedies on record. This was the practical destruc- 
tion of the city of Galveston, Texas, by a flood, on September 8 and 9, 
1900. A violent tropical storm arose on September 8, with a wind that 
reached a velocity of probably one hundred miles an hour. The instru- 
ments recorded eighty-four miles an hour before they were blown away. 
The waters of the bay on the one side and of the Gulf of Mexico on the 
other were piled up in stupendous waves and swept over the doomed 
city. Fully three-fourths of the city was reduced to ruins. The actual 
loss of life will never be known, as thousands of bodies were swept out 
to sea and never were recovered and identified. It is known, however, 
that nearly if not quite eight thousand persons perished. About ten 
thousand more were made homeless, and as the water works, lighting 
works, etc., of the place were destroyed, their plight was pitiable. The 
losses on property aggregated about $30,000,000. Severe losses of life 
and property were also suffered by many other cities and towns in that 
part of Texas. The whole nation, and indeed many foreign lands, 
hastened to give all possible relief, and a vast sum was soon raised for 
the benefit of the stricken people, and the work of rebuilding the city 
was manfully begun. 

THE DEATH ROLL. 

The deaths of these last four years of the century include those of 
Sylvester, the English mathematician ; Brahms, the musician ; Jean Inge- 
low, the poet ; Mrs. Oliphant, the novelist and historian ; Vice-President 
Hobart of the United States ; King Humbert of Italy ; Henry George, 
the Socialist and "single tax "advocate ; Daudet, the novelist ; Bismarck 
and Gladstone. 

So ends the nineteenth century, of which we may in closing recall 
the words of Mr. Balfour, the British statesman and philosopher, who 
ranks it the greatest century of recorded time in the progress of science, 
which means human knowledge and civilization : 



STORY OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS. 63 1 

" In the last hundred years the world has seen great wars, great 
national and social upheavals, great religious movements, great economic 
changes. Literature and art have had their triumphs, and have perma- 
nently enriched the intellectual inheritance of our race. Yet, large as is 
the space which subjects like this legitimately fill in our thoughts, much 
as they will occupy the future historian, it is not among these that I seek 
for the most important and most fundamental differences which separate 
the present from preceding ages. Rather is this to be found in the 
cumulative products of scientific research, to which no other period offers 
a precedent or a parallel. No single discovery, it may be, can be com- 
pared in its results to that of Copernicus ; no single discoverer can be 
compared in genius to Newton. But in their total effects the advances 
made by the nineteenth century are not to be matched. Not only is the 
surprising increase of knowledge new, but the use to which it has been 
put is new also. The growth of industrial invention is not a. fact we are 
permitted to forget. We do, however, sometimes forget how much of it 
is due to a close connection between theoretic knowledge and its utili- 

o 

tarian application, which, in its degree, is altogether unexampled in the 
history of mankind. I suppose that at this moment, if we were allowed 
a vision of the embryonic forces which are predestined most potently to 
affect the future of mankind, we should have to look for them not in the 
legislature nor in the press, nor on the platform ; not in the schemes of 
practical statesmen, nor the dreams of the political theorists, but in the 
laboratories of scientific students whose names are but little in the 
mouths of men, who cannot themselves forecast the results of their own 
labors, and whose theories could scarcely be understood by those whom 
they will chiefly benefit." 



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